Unofficial Portkey Archive

Confused Paths

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just the plot (is there a plot here?) and the OCs. Don't sue me, JKR; I'm poor and I don't have any money.

Chapter 12 - Red Moon

Rafaelle didn't have time to detail her plan, as Johan left the headmaster's office, along with Professor Snape. The Potions Master reminded the four kids that they were late for their class, which happened to be Potions.

Harry grimaced at the thought, but followed Hermione to Gryffindor Tower to pick up their books. Professor Snape had accepted Harry in his N.E.W.T. class, under Dumbledore's orders, and loved to remind the whole class that "some people" weren't supposed to be there. It didn't help that all the houses had the class together.

After the Double Potions class ("The Fourth Unforgivable Curse," Harry said), they had some free time before the next class. Harry usually spent that time walking with Hermione by the lake, but today they were inside an empty classroom, along with the Garnier siblings.

"Hmm, before I tell you my plan for you to have your friend back," Rafaelle began, "Johan is coping with threats from the Death Eaters to-be. So... Do not tell that story to anyone, okay? I know Dumbledore has already asked that, but I really worry about my brother and I think the other students will not be very understanding."

Hermione nodded, and Harry looked at Johan. The long-haired boy was staring out of the window, as if that conversation annoyed him. Harry felt some small regret for his rudeness at Dumbledore's office. He turned to Rafaelle and said, "I will not mention it. I realized it was not something to be spread." The blonde gave Harry and Hermione a small smile.

"Thank you," she said. "Ernest thanks you too, even if he will not say it. He is a bit stubborn and the last happenings are not helping to his mood," she added, stealing a glance at her brother. She sighed heavily.

"Back to the main subject now," she said, turning to face Harry and Hermione again. "You see, since the beginning of the year, I noticed that the two of you and your friend there were subject of a large number of gossip. So, I asked one of my housemates what was so special about you, and I was given a brief history of the Wonder Trio." She gave Harry and Hermione a meaningful smile and then added, "I hope you do not mind that nickname."

Harry looked at Hermione, and saw she was facing the floor, embarrassed. He looked at the blond girl and said, "We could do better without it." Rafaelle nodded. "Sorry about that," she said.

"Let me continue. The person that told me the story seemed way too interested in the three of you. Hmm, well, let me correct that. She seemed interested in one of you. In Ronald Weasley, to be precise. So, when I asked why the three of you were suddenly apart, she blamed Ronald and Hermione's relationship. Oh, I must say she is not a big fan of yours, Hermione. According to her, you said some nasty things about her father's job, or something like that."

Harry saw a smile forming in Hermione's face, and looked at her questioningly. She smiled at him, and before she could say anything else, Rafaelle continued.

"So, when Hermione dumped Ronald, she got positively happy. She did not show it, of course, but I could see that. Ronald seemed quite bad then, and she was dying to talk to him and say something to help him out. For some unknown reason, she never did. So, if I tell her that you two are dating and Ronald is feeling even more miserable, maybe she could gather her courage and go there." The blond girl looked at Hermione, then at Harry, waiting for a reaction. Harry thought it wasn't a bad idea. Maybe if another girl showed some care for him, he would understand what Hermione really felt for him. It was worth trying. He opened his mouth to voice his concordance, but Hermione spoke first.

"It is a nice plan," she said. "If another girl showed some care for Ron, he may understand that I love him as brother, not as a lover. But there are two major problems in that plan. One, Ron would never willingly talk to Luna. And two, I do not think Ron sees Luna as a girl," she added.

Rafaelle just nodded at Hermione's answer, as if she was expecting that, but Harry was dumbstruck. Hermione had just said she loved him. She didn't say it directly, but she said it anyway. It was a great change in everything. So far, Harry had said he like her as more than a friend; she had just said it back. The two of them had never used the magical word. They had never said, "I love you."

Harry was brought back from his thoughts by Hermione. "Harry?" She called. He turned to her and said sheepishly, "Sorry sweetheart, I just dazed off here. You know, I guess that smoke in Snape's class affected me somehow." Hermione didn't seem convinced, but shrugged it off. Harry knew she was going to ask him about that later. "We were asking ourselves how we are going to make Ron talk to Luna. You know he will try to run away if she gets near him," Hermione said.

Luna. That was another reason why Harry was dumbstruck. 'Luna fancied Ron? I knew she liked to talk to him and such, but I never thought of it that way. Maybe I am just too dense when it comes of heart problems,' Harry thought to himself. 'But not as dense as Ron, of course,' he added, and chuckled to himself. Hermione turned to him as he did so. "Had any ideas?" The girl asked.

"Hmm… Maybe we could have Ginny and Luna coming to talk to Ron, and then Ginny says she has got to pick something she forgot, leaving Ron and Luna together," Harry answered quickly, trying to cover his obvious lack of concentration on the subject. He expected Hermione and Rafaelle to say it was a stupid idea. Instead, he saw Hermione smile than turn to Rafaelle, who smiled too.

"I had completely forgotten about that," the blonde girl said. "Ronald's sister is Luna's best friend. It should be very easy to do, as long as Ginny is okay with that, and Ronald will not suspect a thing," she finished. "Ginny will be okay with that," Hermione said. "She also gave us a little push before we started dating," she added, winking at Rafaelle. That didn't pass unnoticed to Harry, and he presumed Rafaelle also had a talk with Hermione in that snowball game. He looked at Johan, who gave him a small smirk.

"You know, that kind of plan is becoming overused," Johan said, talking for the first time since they entered the classroom. "I know lots of couples that started that way, and one of them is here in front of me. Leave the boy alone with the girl and expect for the best. It is so silly. Fortunately, it never failed, so I think you should try it," he finished, and laughed. Rafaelle and Hermione joined him. Harry did the same, when he noticed he had to be left alone with Hermione in the Common Room before gathering the courage to talk to her.

"I never saw you as a love expert, Johan," Hermione said. "It seems they do give that ability to boys sometimes," she added and looked at Harry. He put both his hands over his heart and grimaced. "Your hurt me talking like that, honey," he said, mockingly. "I did not mean it, Harry, you know it," Hermione said. "But I can make for it," she said, with a wink, and kissed Harry on the lips. Harry could barely hear Johan saying, "I was about to offer Harry some lessons, but I guess he is too busy for that."

Kissing Hermione was always good; no matter how many times Harry did it. After the "advanced lessons of kissing", Harry was sure Hermione enjoyed it as much as he did. Her kisses were good even when they were over; her sweet taste lingered on his lips, and he was often running his tongue over them, trying to feel her even when she was away.

They were moving slow on their relationship. Harry's hormones sometimes tried to make him lose control, but he respected Hermione and was willing to wait anytime she deemed necessary. So far, Hermione had sit on Harry's lap once or twice, but they had never gone any further. That was enough to make his stomach do flip-flops and to feel the shivers. He loved these things only Hermione could make him feel.

They were broken apart from their trance when Rafaelle cleared her throat besides them. "Hmm, I hate to be interrupting, but we have got Care of Magical Creatures in five minutes," she said. Harry was very embarrassed and didn't say anything. Hermione nodded at Rafaelle and took Harry's arm, dragging him out of the room. He saw her cheeks were very red. Rafaelle followed them, along with Johan. "You know, you two are showing obvious signs of snogging. Maybe you should make yourselves presentable before getting at Hagrid's hut. I can make up a lie to Hagrid if you want," Rafaelle offered. Hermione nodded, and straightened her clothes and hair. Harry did the same.

The other students were already there when they arrived, but they seemed to be afraid of getting near the teacher. 'Must be one of Hagrid's pets,' Harry thought. "Well, at least I am sure it is not a chimera," Johan said. "We would be able to see it from here," he added. Hermione turned to Johan in shock. "Chimera?" Hermione asked. "We were talking to Hagrid during the holidays and he said he wanted one for our classes. We really like Magical Creatures and wanted to know what he was planning to show us. I wished I had not asked," Rafaelle answered, before Johan could say anything.

Hagrid didn't bring them any chimeras, but the class was as dangerous as usual. The giant had brought them some fire crabs, the same ones he used to breed blast-ended skrewts. Fortunately, no one got (badly) wounded. Hermione managed to make Hagrid promise he wouldn't bring any chimeras. "They are too difficult to find, anyway," said the giant.

Rafaelle reminded Harry and Hermione to talk to Ginny, before she left to have lunch. As soon as Harry and Hermione entered the Great Hall, they scanned it for Ginny; she was sitting at one end of the table, along with Neville. Hermione was very quick to tell her about the plan, and Ginny was even quicker to agree. "I think Luna deserved someone better, but as she is smitten with that prat of my brother, I will help her," the red-haired girl said.

After the afternoon classes, they discussed if they should tell Luna about the plan. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Rafaelle and Johan agreed that she wasn't supposed to know. "It is funnier this way," said Neville, who had his wild side awaken at the holiday with the Weasley twins. That night, the plan was put into action. Ron was in the Great Hall, having dinner, when Ginny showed up with Luna. She began a conversation, and then left Ron alone with Luna. Harry, Hermione, Rafaelle and Johan were watching from their places. Harry saw Ron was torn between leaving his dinner and having to talk to Luna. He chose the second, and they spent about fifteen minutes talking. "That is a good start," Hermione said.

They had good results on the first try, but it wasn't any near enough. Luna was quite bold, and Ginny expected that she would mention Harry and Hermione soon. Unfortunately, Luna seemed to change in front of Ron. They were able to leave the two of them alone several times; and every time it happened, she would always talk about the silliest of things. Ginny decided they had to let Luna into their plan, or else they would never reach the expected results.

"You see, Ms. Weasley," Johan said, when Ginny proposed her idea of breaking the truth to Luna, "if we tell her about the plan, she will probably think we are using her to make Ronald forgive Harry. She is so smitten with him that she can not even be her bold self in front of him. So, we can not just tell her everything right away." He looked at the others, and gave Ginny a smirk before continuing. "Instead, you are going to make her believe it will be good for Ronald to talk about Harry. She will believe that the best way to have Ronald's attention is helping him out," he concluded.

Ginny looked at Johan with disgust. Harry was also very surprised at how manipulative the boy could be. "No wonder you are a Slytherin," Ginny said, before her face broke into a smile. "I will do it."

Harry was besides them, under the Invisibility Cloak, when Luna first talked to Ron about "the forbidden subject". He was very surprised to see that Ron didn't want to change the subject. Instead, he talked about everything normally. He wished Ron had done the same before.

"You know, Luna," Ron began, "I do not know why I am not talking to them anymore. I think I am afraid that they do not need me anymore. They seem very well with one another. They even started hanging out with the French kids. I am afraid to be a third wheel. Or worse, a fifth wheel now."

"You know, Ronald," Luna said, interrupting him. "You are so thick. I think I have already said that to you once. But I am saying it again. You are so thick. They are your friends, Ronald. Harry still calls you "best friend" when someone talks about you. They are just waiting for you to come back to them and talk."

"What I am supposed to say? If I tell them the truth, they will hate me. It will not solve anything," Ron said. "The truth is always better. I will take my father as an example. He always speaks the truth in his magazine. Do you think it would be better if he did not publish Harry's interview last year? If he had done the same as the Daily Prophet and said that Harry was lying, his readers would be as scared as Daily Prophet's readers are. My father's readers protected themselves in advance, and are less scared from You-Know-Who than everyone else. The truth is always better," Luna said.

Harry chuckled inwardly. Luna was sure a perfect match for Ron, he thought. If this was Hermione trying to convince Ron, or everyone else for that matter, they would have failed. But against Luna's argument, Ron had no choice but nodding in defeat.

"Okay, you win. I will talk to them tomorrow. I just do not know how," Ron admitted.

"Just tell them. They are your friends. Even if what you did was terrible, they will understand. They had time enough to think about it too. We are in February already. Hermione broke up with you in September," Luna said. Harry wasn't aware of how many time had passed until Luna had mentioned it. They had been working on that plan for one month already, and now they've finally accomplished one of the goals. The other one just depended on whether Ron had enough guts to ask Luna out.

"The library is closing," Luna said. "We'd better leave. I supposed you have got to meet your partner for the prefect rounds, and I have to do the same," she added. Ron grimaced, but nodded reluctantly. Harry knew Ron was never in love with prefect duties. And since he fought with Hermione, the two of them were not doing rounds together anymore. Hermione was pairing herself with Ginny, and Ron was working with Colin Creevey.

"Well, I will see you tomorrow, Ronald," Luna said, and turned to leave. Ron stopped her by holding her arm. "Luna," he began, and Harry saw his voice stammering. Ron was not going to… was him?

"Next Saturday we are going to Hogsmeade, and it is also Valentine's Day. So I wondered if you wanted to go with me," Ron said, very quickly. It reminded Harry of Hermione's presentation at the Hogwarts' Express, at first year.

Luna had that permanent expression of surprise, but that was nothing when she was really surprised. Harry chuckled again under the cloak. Luna blushed deeply, and turned her head, before answering. "I would love to," she said weakly, then left the library. Harry felt a pang of pride for Ron, who had a goofy smile plastered on his face.

A/N: Hey! I've got no internet, but I've still got a computer. So I wrote this chapter at home and I'm uploading from a friend's house. It's unbetaed too, and I suppose all chapters will be unbetaed from now on. Sorry about that.

srpalmer: I didn't know about Dolohov being a Russian name, but I suppose you are absolutely right. I'll leave it the way it is by now, but I'll remember that when I make the (very necessary) corrections on this fic. Thank you for your help. ^_^

JadeLMSkywalker: Hey… You're the guy who writes Destiny's Ghost! I love it! Can I have your autograph?

akjennymay9: I guess your question was answered here… ^_^

Sabu113: As Rafaelle said this chapter, Ernest is receiving threats from the other kids. Of course, there's more to come… Ernest didn't stay longer in Dumbledore's office without a reason.

sweet: Ron can be a target too, but Dumbledore had some reasons to tell Harry and Hermione only. The poor old man never learns that he shouldn't keep secrets.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed. Keep doing so and make an author happy. ^_^