Harry made his debut with Hermione at lunch before anyone had arrived. Harry had told Hermione about Malfoy's visit, and when Malfoy sat down, she shot him a distasteful glare his way, as if to take care of the whole problem.
Oh if it were only so easy.
They had received their assignments from Neville who had gathered them while they were absent, and Hermione was wasting no time getting back on track. She spread her books around her at the empty lunch table, and was already taking notes. Her foot was fine, and she completely ignored the fact that it was hurt. As people began filling in around her, she removed the books that she had surrounding her until Ron came to sit across from her. She didn't look up at first, but Ron cleared his throat and she reluctantly let him sit there.
"This came for you this morning Harry. Didn't know where to find you." Ron tossed the letter onto
Harry's bare plate and then resumed eating. Students began filling the hall.
Ron wore a blank expression on his face. It was hard for Hermione to tell if he was angry with her or not.
"Ron, I'm really sorry for yelling at you." He continued to eat. "I mean it, I'm sorry. You were
just about to loose your head." he didn't look up at her, only forced more and more food into his mouth,
faster and faster. "Ron would you listen to me? Just now please?" He stopped, and for a moment Harry thought
he was going to explode. But he grabbed his glass of juice and gulped it down. He then resumed eating.
"Ron, mate, hear her out, will ya?" More students closed in their vacancy and Ron continued to take big bites
out of his role, and Hermione grabbed his hand.
"Listen to me Ron! Just listen!" He wrangled his hand from her grasp and dropped his roll. He grabbed his bag
and pulled it over his shoulder, saying,
"Nice dining with you two. Hope to see you in class this afternoon." He then swept away, not looking at
anyone. Harry got up and placed his napkin in his plate.
"I'll go talk--" Hermione pulled his hand.
"No, don't go. I will talk to him later." She looked up at him, and her eyes pleaded.
"Oh alright. I will leave early to go and find him. Maybe he will listen." They both sat down, and resumed
their lunch. Many people asked where they had been, if they were in trouble, or if hurt.
"Oh, Harry, don't forget about your letter." Reminded Hermione, pointing to the forgotten envelope to the
side of his plate.
"Oh yeah. Thanks." Harry read the letter, and just shrugged it off. It was from Remus Lupin. They had been
keeping in close correspondence ever since his third year.
"Who was it?" Hermione queried. Harry took the letter and stuffed it inside his robes.
"Just Lupin, checking up on me and telling me some things about the Order." Hermione nodded.
"Oh. Well do you think we should go and find Ron now?" They both rose from the table and set off towards the exit.
"Where do you think he ran off to?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged and said,
"I am unsure. Shall we start with the Common Room?" They walked on, and Harry thought he saw a strong glimmer
of gold to his left. He stopped. It was the mirror.
"Hold on, what was that?" He turned towards the direction in which he saw it, but could only see a statue in
front of where it would have been.
"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry joined her.
"Nothing, just thought I saw something."
To no prevail, Ron was not to be found. They continued their classes, and somehow he was there, but when they commenced, he disappeared. Dinner came and went, and Ron again blatantly ignored the two.
"Ron? Will you talk to us now?" Hermione had tried to get him to talk, but he looked the other way. She
shrugged and turned to Harry, shooting him a quizzical look. All the students ended the meal, and made their way to
their respective Common Rooms.
"Harry, I'm going to go to the Library. Maybe I'll meet Ron along the way, or something." Harry
nodded and she got up from her seat and made her way towards the library, her favorite destination.
The Library was deserted, and Hermione found her favorite spot in the back section. She was meaning to pull out her
Potions notes, but then found they were in her bag, back in the dormitory. She sighed and pulled out a pale green
covered book from the nearest, towering bookshelf. It sometimes would amaze her how she would get so caught up in a
book. As if the first words read lifted her off of her feet and carried her mind into a state of well-being. She
didn't notice many things around her, especially a figure taking the seat beside her. The scuffing noises and the
mocking moves didn't catch her either. But the snatching of a book did.
"Hey, Harry--" But it was not Harry. She grabbed her book back from him, and closed it. He got up from his
taken seat and walked around to the opposite side of the table.
"Don't you spend enough time here?" The man said. She looked at him indignantly and he smirked.
"You are certainly bold S--" He was here, again.
"Oh, but am I?" He grabbed a book and flipped through it, and tossed it on her table.
"Don't you know what trouble you have caused?" she said taking the book and stacking it upon her other.
She was a very tedious person, someone who didn't like having her life messed up, per say.
"You won't think it's trouble once it's over." He again, grabbed another book, flipped through it
and tossed it on her table. She again, took it and stacked it, a third on the others. How could it not be trouble?
"If it ever ends.." She muttered under her breath. He was halfway through another book when he stopped. He
looked at her,
"Don't say that. You know it will." He closed the book and tossed it on the table again.
"You said you were watching me. Why is it so slow?" She was getting frustrated with this whole thing, and
him in specifics.
"Are you satisfied with it? Can you really keep it like this much longer? That's why it's so slow."
Hermione looked down at her shoes, and heard the clacking of more footsteps. She looked up and he was gone. Harry made
his way back to her.
She quickly grabbed the topmost book and stuck her head behind it.
Harry found her heavily interested in a book. He had always wondered how she could become completely involved in something so bland, but then he saw that she wasn't reading, just pretending. Her secret was out!
But besides Harry's discovery, he had a more serious matter on his hands. He had just encountered into the Mirror of Erised on his quest to find Ron, and he was scared senseless at what he saw.