A/N: Sorry for the long pause in updates. Lots of things happened the last two weeks I had no time to write. I still have some other concerns to take care of this week but they're almost all cleared up that thinking about the story is becoming easy again. This chapter will be relatively short, but the subsequent chapters are forming pretty well. I only need to refine the outline so that I won't have to rewrite often. The story is still slow because I'm still setting up all the clues towards the eventful climax. (The climax is still far away…) Please kindly leave a review. Thanks. :-)
Chapter 8: Duo or Trio
Harry wasn't prepared to talk to Dumbledore yet. He hadn't practiced his speech to explain why he slipped out of Hogwarts without his permission. He felt petrified. He had never been scolded by Dumbledore since he knew him, and the prospect of being possibly screamed at was terrifying by itself.
"I'll leave you two to talk, Dumbledore," said Sirius evenly. He then looked at Harry, who was swaying in front of him. "I'm sorry about leaving you like this, Harry, but Dumbledore really wanted to meet you as soon as you arrived. I'll be going somewhere today, but I hope we could talk alone again very soon - I miss you terribly."
"It's okay, Sirius," said Harry softly and they both went into a hug.
Sirius then went out of the Library, leaving Harry alone with Dumbledore. Harry didn't need to be told to find a seat; a moldy old chintz armchair - the only chair that hadn't been in use to stack old excess books on was waiting for him. It was as if it was placed there for the purpose of this meeting.
"Time's a-wasting, Harry," Dumbledore said calmly, but this didn't soothe Harry a bit. Harry was already bracing for a day-long tirade. As soon as Harry had sat down on the armchair in front of him, Dumbledore took off his half-moon spectacles, placed it at his side table, and looked straightly on at Harry.
Harry swallowed and choked at his own saliva.
"Do you know why I wanted to talk to you Harry?" he said.
"Yes sir," Harry said, bowing his head as he sat down on the armchair opposite Dumbledore. "I've, uhm, gone out of Hogwarts without seeing you first - like you asked."
"That's right," Dumbledore said, lifting his head slightly back while he stared determinedly at Harry. "Why didn't you, may I ask?"
Harry thought for a moment. He could lie if he wanted to, but Dumbledore was a very difficult man to lie to. He could literally see what his brain was doing from top to bottom, inside and out. Harry didn't want to further infuriate the man who had taken many pains to protect him since he was born, so he chose to be honest. It was the most logical thing to do at the moment. Not that he had any choice.
"Professor, honestly, I don't know. But I was so afraid then that you wouldn't want me to get out for Christmas when my best friends could get home. I was so afraid to be left alone with no one to talk to for three full weeks. It would drive me crazy!"
"And what made you think I wouldn't permit you at all?"
Harry paused for a moment. He took mild surprise at Dumbledore's question.
"Well, Professor," Harry then said, "I guess with Lord Voldemort now out there in the open and with three murders happening at the same time last week, I was certain you'd think it would be too dangerous for me to get away of Hogwarts' protection. I didn't want to have no choice left if you personally told me I'm forbidden to get out - but I did try to go to you for days - that's the truth - and aside from being too scared about it, a lot of bad things happened that I kind of forgot about it for days. The last night before leaving Hogwarts I was already on the way to your office but Angelina Johnson caught me and kept us practicing Quidditch until midnight. The next morning you weren't around already…sir."
Dumbledore gazed at Harry for a moment after hearing his explanation. His reasons had some validity to it, but it didn't take away the fact that Harry had gone without his clearance by ignoring him way back at Hogwarts.
"But you clearly knew the risks if you disregarded my simple instructions, or you being out there with Lord Voldemort roaming freely like you said."
"Yes, sir. I thought I could still get away if he got to me…"
"Now that was totally reckless of you to think that, Harry. You were totally aware of the dangers and you chose to risk your life to have some outdoor fun. I expected more of you."
"I didn't know what I was thinking, sir." Harry's gaze sank lower towards the floor.
"I could appreciate your genuine desire to talk to me and I do understand the conditions surrounding your failure to do so, like the unscheduled Quidditch practice. But you could have just told Professor McGonagall that you had no chance to see me. I instructed her to let you off no matter what happened as long as you knew all I was asking for you to do was to spend your vacation here, at Grimmauld place where you're perfectly safe. Like you have experienced lately, the Burrow or the Grangers' house aren't at all very secure to spend your vacation at, though I had told Arthur to take you in for a night before he'd bring you to Grimmauld - that was a risk we had to take due to the circumstances. Sirius volunteered for the job to pick you up from King Cross to Grimmauld but I didn't want to risk him getting captured. So you didn't have to lie to McGonagall at all…"
Harry looked up at Dumbledore and said, "Sir, you mean you didn't think of forbidding me at all?"
"That's correct, Harry. If you won't even see me, how would you know what I wanted to ask you? This should not have been a problem at all."
Harry made a face because he absolutely had no reason to feel any anxious back at Hogwarts if he just walked to Dumbledore and talked to him. Now, he ran the risk of being punished, or worse, expelled.
"As you have heard in my discussion with Cornelius Fudge at my office a few nights ago," Dumbledore continued, "he would send some wizards from the Ministry to police Hogwarts even at Christmas. The wizards he may choose to send could be Death Eaters who had infiltrated the Ministry. With no one left at Hogwarts besides Mr. Filch - yes, everybody else had gone home for the holidays - leaving you there alone was as dangerous as putting you outdoors…besides, since it's always been the plan that I'd stay out of Hogwarts for the whole holidays, I don't have the heart to leave you alone there with no one to talk to besides the mice."
"Sir, we didn't listen in to your conversation," Harry began to defend himself at once. "We never…"
"Don't you start lying now, Harry," said Dumbledore speedily and sternly.
"Yes, sir…" he said immediately, and sunk his gaze deeper toward the floor again.
"Like I said before, I do not tolerate lies being told to me, do you understand? It's what Ron did that got him into trouble with detention…"
"Yes, sir…"
"Very good. You, being out of Hogwarts now, isn't the issue at this time. That's always been the plan nevertheless. I'm not blowing your faults out of proportion, Harry, but I must make you understand that I won't permit you to get away with lying without paying for it. It would make a bad precedent for you - you'd think everything will be all right even if you misbehaved because we would just look the other way. I refuse to accept that kind of attitude, do you understand?"
Harry nodded.
"You need to re-learn how to listen to your mentors and elders like us and Professor McGonagall. Yes, even Professor Snape. We will always have reasons to keep you away from things that you immediately yearn for, but we won't prevent you from doing what you want unless it's totally necessary and we will always have valid reasons to do that. You must learn again how to trust us. Until you're an adult you'll still have to subject yourself to the wisdom of those who're responsible for your well-being. Now you know more clearly why I'm angry at you, don't you?"
"Because I lied, and because I tried to get away from you, sir," said Harry bluntly.
"That's right. It was a very dangerous thing for you to do - irresponsible, too. I'm terribly disappointed with you, Harry. This is a valid ground for your expulsion, but I won't expel you for this. There you go - you escaped expulsion again. Don't feel you'd always get away with it. I'm not sure how long I could bend the rules for you, but please don't make me expel you even if it meant risking your death from Lord Voldemort's hands. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir."
Dumbledore leaned back and put back his spectacles on his face and read a piece of parchment. "Professor McGonagall has already planned for your detention when you get back at Hogwarts. And no, it won't be the same detention I gave to Mr. Weasley."
Harry groaned loudly.
"This will make you understand how serious your recent offense was. Now do I have your true word that you won't do this again? Ever?" His blue eyes gazed back flamingly at Harry again.
Harry looked at Dumbledore slowly, and he accepted his challenge sincerely. The look in his eyes told him he was not bluffing, but this was loads better than having expelled. Harry nodded and said, "Yes, sir, you can count on me this time."
Dumbledore slightly smiled. "Excellent. Double detention after New Year's - I hope you won't break your back with it. But I can't deny you've got great finesse in figuring out a way to get yourself out of the dark from what's really happening around you."
Harry stared. "What do you mean, sir?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Mr. Weasley's not so discrete in planting bugs, if you hadn't known about it. He looked scared in leaving that severed ear he became very careless. I gave it back to him the next day, didn't he tell you?"
Harry swallowed hard once more. Ron never mentioned it to him at all because he might have been too ashamed to admit it. So Dumbledore really knew they were eavesdropping, Harry thought.
Dumbledore laughed. "However, the ear thing - whatever you call it - is an ingenious device. You two have the markings of being good Aurors someday. Keeping yourselves in the know as much as possible is always a wise move. However, it would also be tactful not to intrude upon other people's privacy, the same."
Harry nodded embarrassedly.
"But let's get that out of the way. Since I know that you are fully aware of Cornelius Fudge's plans for our next return at Hogwarts, I want to you, Ron, and Hermione to be extra vigilant from now on. Very extra vigilant. I do not know who's behind this new plot to place Death Eaters posing as Ministry Wizards at Hogwarts and what their plans are, but I feel that it's something sinister as the last time."
"Can't you do anything at all to stop Minister Fudge, Professor?" asked Harry. He didn't want to believe Dumbledore was powerless to object to anything that posed any danger to his students.
"Sorry to say I can't in this case."
Dumbledore handed Harry the piece of parchment he was reading, and it looked like an official letter from the Ministry of Magic.
"I just got this memorandum," he said, "from the Ministry informing me of the sweeping changes they'll be enforcing when the students would return to Hogwarts. You don't have to read through the gobble-de-gook, but let me summarize it for you in the simplest of terms.
"It says there should be no group of students more than two walking alongside each other at a time, the Headmaster has been stripped of authority to object to Ministry operations enforced at Hogwarts, curfew hours now are at nine in the evening until six the next morning, and no unauthorized groups will be allowed to form for any purpose unless authorized by the Ministry. Violation equals arbitrary suspension. Next, it'll be expulsion from Hogwarts. That, I expect, is just the first of many new radical rules Fudge wants to introduce."
Harry examined the parchment more closely and noticed it was signed by seven out of twelve of the school governors. "Looks like they were almost divided in approving this," Harry observed.
"Yes, because Lucius Malfoy is said to have been very influential and was actively lobbying for it."
"But he's a Death Eater, professor!" exclaimed Harry. "He might be the one crafting this to make the conditions right for Voldemort to…" Harry thought hard. "No, it couldn't be…"
"I know what you're thinking, Harry," said Dumbledore, feeling satisfied with Harry's intuition. "Yes, it's possible that they may be planning to kidnap you, but I have no concrete proof to conclude that that's what they're planning as of now. There might be other devious things that they have thought of about right now - something at a grand scale. But I strongly suspect Lord Voldemort was not at all too happy that you've escaped the second time and he's plotting another way to get back at you again. You were supposed to have joined him or be killed like you told us. He'll do it again, I promise you."
"But see here, professor," Harry said, "it would be too arrogant for me to think they're doing everything - all of these just to get me. He must have gotten tired of running after me. There must be other reasons why Lucius is trying hard to put Death Eaters at Hogwarts. How about the destruction of Hogwarts? That's not at all farfetched, isn't it?"
Dumbledore nodded, but he didn't readily agree to that wholeheartedly, though it was entirely possible Voldemort could also be exerting all effort to cause no less than the destruction of Hogwarts. There was something else he knew that he was not prepared to tell Harry yet, and he absolutely believed Voldemort was really out to get Harry and then kill him. He was actively manipulating the affairs of the Ministry of Magic through Lucius for his ends.
"As a whole, yes, he might be planning to destroy all those who oppose him," Dumbledore carefully said, stroking his beard, "but we cannot rule out the fact that he's doing this for personal vendetta. Of course, you're right that it does seem arrogant to think that all the fuss on their part to plan something as elaborate as this was meant for you alone, but thinking otherwise begets complacency. I'm not telling all of this to make you paranoid, but all I ask of you is to be careful and be aware of what's happening around you. If you do think something is afoot, don't ever hesitate to come to me for advice. At the same time, I will be asking Ron and Hermione to keep a close eye on you. You could be walking into trouble in the coming weeks…"
Harry, however, didn't like Dumbledore's last idea at all. He didn't want to make Ron and Hermione as his bodyguards to worry about him. He would be fine by himself, though he wouldn't neglect being extra vigilant like Dumbledore had said, of course.
Dumbledore meant well, and he had always shown very keen sense of what's been going around him. But not to this extent…please, Ron and Hermione his bodyguards? No, thanks. He felt he'd be the one protecting them now that he knew Voldemort was also out to hurt them.
"I think I'd rather that we'll protect each other, not just me, professor…"
Dumbledore agreed. "That's good enough, Harry. I see you really care about your friends - that's what I really like about you. Don't give too much worry about the petty differences that come your way. The important thing is you are there for them the same as they are there for you. Search for your feelings, Harry. I trust you've fully learned how your bond that protected you from the Oarling. It was a very powerful creature. I could not see how the same protection can't be used against Lord Voldemort, but just don't rely on it solely. It only comes at the right time with the right conditions and the right people. Use your skills to the fullest, and together you can be a powerful force to reckon with. Do you have anything that's bothering you at all nowadays?"
Harry at first wanted to share to Dumbledore what he felt about Hermione and how it would affect that important bond, but he decided against it. He knew what to do. Amid the air of danger around him caused by the endless actions of Lord Voldemort, he was still allowed to worry about his own personal problems - even more "trivial" ones like his inner desires for a best friend.
He needn't have to worry yet about his security in Hogwarts because that was still far off the calendar. He had to resolve his most recent troubles soon to be able to function well whatever dangers were thrown at him later. He made a point to talk to Ron today to make everything clear with him because Harry sensed that his infatuation with Hermione had been bothering his friend all along. It was probably a good time to find out if Ron was jealous of him.
"None at all, Professor," Harry lied without being noticed by Dumbledore. "Thanks for the warning, and I won't ignore your calls from now on."
"That's the man," said Dumbledore with deep satisfaction. "You can go now. I believe you have other important things to take care of."
Harry stood slowly up and went for the door but before he opened it, he paused and looked back at Dumbledore. "Professor Dumbledore," he said a little hesitantly with a tiny smile, "I want to thank you for not forgetting about Hermione last night."
"You're welcome," Dumbledore replied, smiling back. "I know how special she is to you."
-o0o-
Harry and Ron didn't have much to do during their first day at Grimmauld except clean up the rooms from household pests that strived from years of neglect of Number Twelve. It wasn't until Ron had an allergic reaction to the dust around the rooms that Molly had called it a day of cleaning very early. She didn't know it was Fred and George's way of escaping boring work by trying out their new Sneezing Sandcubes at their brother. The only downside to it was that the antidote had not been invented by the twins yet and Ron kept sneezing non-stop well before dinner.
Harry, on the other hand, had been preoccupied all day with his thoughts about making the huge mistake of changing the way he looked at Hermione. It was one thing that he worried more than his impending detention and of Death Eaters roaming around at Hogwarts. After much difficult thought he decided, quite reluctantly, the he should abandon his desires for Hermione and to try to return things to how it was.
He loved Hermione, there was no doubt about that, but she probably loved him back as a real friend. Treating her as something more than a friend seemed more disadvantageous for a lot of reasons than the opposite, so he thought it was best for the trio to take his desires for her off his chest. He felt a little better now - just a little - feeling that he could just come to her anytime without feeling awkward anymore and worry about rejection. However, he did feel a bit of regret for it. His feelings for her had already grown significantly in a short span of time and he had to let it go. They could have had a nice little relationship. Who knows?
Hermione had not shown herself to everyone the whole day. According to Ginny, Hermione was still too sick and frail to even sit upright on her bed to eat her meals. Molly feared it was some kind of a bad virus that had infected Hermione that she had forbidden anyone from getting near her except Ginny. However, Ginny was still healthy and had no signs of getting the bug, and Ron had always slipped in to stand by Hermione.
Harry, meanwhile, had finally found the courage at last to talk to Ron and tell him about his "former" feelings with Hermione. Like Harry had expected, Ron didn't take it all very lightly.
"I knew it! There was something going between you and Hermione," he said hotly in their room, pacing around with no real direction. Harry was sitting at his bed beside Ron's.
"Ron, look I'm sorry if I couldn't help it then, I was so confused," explained Harry. "I couldn't tell you at all because you might get angry."
"Right you are, I'm angry," Ron said, staring Harry down at his face. "You're the one who's apparently been causing our breakup. I saw it early on. Hermione's changed. She's not like she was like I knew her. She's been distancing herself from us lately…"
"Breakup?" Harry didn't believe there was such a thing as a breakup. Hermione, as a matter of fact, was still very close to them and she had always been at their side as much as possible. Well, except until last night - she did seem to look angry lately.
"I never realized…"
"Of course, you didn't," interrupted Ron, "you were too busy worrying when you could get to kiss her while I was figuring out what was wrong!"
"Ron, I'm sorry - really, I am. But I think you're wrong about the breakup thing - she can't be distancing herself from us. I've been - because I was afraid she might have gotten angry at me for hugging her last night. I almost kissed her, too, if I hadn't controlled myself, you know."
Ron looked aghast at Harry's revelation. "I didn't know that."
"You were in the kitchen. Just this morning she looked as if she didn't want to look at me. I didn't feel very good at all! I knew I made her mad. This isn't doing us any good, so I thought of giving it up. Start all over. I think you two are just right for each other…"
"Look, Harry, don't ever think I also have a silly desire for Hermione, okay? Because I don't…" Ron said, holding out his palms in front of Harry. "I really don't. Okay?"
Harry regretted he even mentioned that with his desperation to soothe Ron, but he found Ron's statement hard to believe. "Then why were you so angry with Krum of having a go with her last year?" he asked gently.
"Don't you say his name!" Ron snapped, but then breathed shortly. "But now that you have, I'll tell you why! He was threatening to take Hermione away from us. Didn't you see that at all last year? I didn't want that to happen. We're best friends and he just came out of nowhere and he had all the nerve to bud in to take away what's so important to us." Ron breathed deeply again as he placed his hands on his hips, staring at the ceiling. Hermione's a huge part of us, Harry, and if she goes, things will never be the same. I don't know why I'm so scared of it…"
"Look, Ron, sooner or later one of us will go separate ways and get married somewhere. It's inevitable."
Ron paused and allowed himself to calm down. "I know. But for now, I'm not ready for that yet, Harry. Someday, yes, but the trio - it's all I have at the moment. Please understand what I'm trying to say here. I'm poorer than a church mouse, but I feel like the richest person in the entire world because of the simple fact I have you and Hermione." Ron sniffed and went for the door, slouching. "I want to be alone right now. See you later."
"Ron, sorry about everything, okay?" said Harry. Ron just waved it off with a hand.
Harry sighed and banged his back against his mattress. Ron was right, he thought. He was being so selfish to want Hermione as a girlfriend that he forgot how important the special bond of the trio was for them. If he took Hermione away for himself, then Ron will most likely suffer because he'd be marginalized in some way. The funny thing for Harry at the moment was he had always assumed Hermione would readily go steady with him (if he did everything right). He had not even opened up his feelings with her and he was already sure what the outcome would be.
Ron sometimes had not been acting like a real friend to Hermione as far as Harry could remember, but he was still someone he and she could count on and vice versa. Ron may not want to admit it, but he cherished Hermione's friendship. It was refreshing to know from Ron that he had no real romantic desire with her. The true reason for his refusal for Hermione of having any romantic relationship with others (Viktor Krum included) was actually for the integrity of the trio, which Harry thought was very decent of Ron.
Harry remembered to take out Hermione's picture from his trunk to look at it again. He had to make up his mind now. She still looked very cute to him, making his heart pound again. But finally he sighed and said, "Ron's right, you're my best friend, I shouldn't have wanted you in the first place…"
In the displeasure he felt that followed, Harry never understood the surprised look on Hermione's face was actually a form of disappointment, not of real shock like he had thought.
-o0o-
Harry had been so lost in thought lying down on his bed that he wasn't aware he'd been doing it for three hours. Ron was already asleep, having calmed down from his recent rant. They had not talked again about what they discussed at all tonight, but Harry knew Ron was still in speaking terms with him when he had asked Harry to tell his mum to excuse him from housekeeping chose the next day because he was still sneezing. The truth was Ron's nasal passages had never felt so clear in his whole life.
Moments later he heard Hermione whimper in her room across the hall. This time Harry didn't stand at once upon hearing it because he knew she was just having another bad dream like the other night. The frequency of Hermione's bad dreams, including his with Russelpunk, made Harry very uncomfortable again, however. Harry tried to remember when was the last time Hermione had bad dreams that preceded something terrible happening. It was their encounter with the Oarling. He thought their dreams could have some of connection again - she could have seen Russelpunk being murdered, he was not sure, but he had to ask her about it. He felt he needed to know.
Another scream came.
Another bad dream.
Harry finally stood up and went over to Hermione to see how she was. He now had managed to walk in her room, at least without having to fight with himself. Ginny was again awake and was stroking Hermione's hair to make her quiet, and she looked like she was missing a lot of sleep because of her bloating eye bags.
"At last, it's you, Harry," said Ginny sleepily.
"Huh?"
"Hermione's been waiting for you to come in all day."
"She was?" Harry walked deeper in the room and sat beside Hermione's feet. He squeezed Hermione's hand and felt she was still burning with no end.
"Ron was here several times today, but all she kept hoping for was you."
Harry groaned. If he was still desiring for her he would have leapt in ecstasy upon hearing that, but that wasn't the case now. He simply felt very sorry for not acting like a real friend to Hermione.
"I kind of wanted to, but I thought she was mad at me about something since morning."
Ginny strangely chose to avoid answering Harry's last statement. "It'll be nice if we took turns looking after her - I'm so t-t-t-tired," she yawned. "Would you?"
Harry nodded, took a chair from beside the wall, and sat beside Hermione's bed. Ginny looked visibly relieved and didn't wait a second too long to dive on to her bed to go to sleep. "Wake me if her fever gets worse," she said before cozying up. She fell asleep in an instant.
Harry didn't feel real sleepy anyway and glanced to Hermione to watch her. She looked reddish - he was afraid the raging fever could have been very agonizing for her at the moment. He reached for her hair and stroked it, knowing that she won't feel anything, and fixed it in place so that no strand had covered her face. When he saw her face this near ever since he made that "illegal" hug, he felt real bad for not being around for a best friend who was very sick and who wanted to see him all day. He had let her down in her time of need because of his silly infatuation. He wondered how she would take it when she woke up and saw him sitting at the chair.
More silly thoughts came buzzing around inside Harry's mind again.
She wanted to see me all day so she could slap me!
Yeah. Yeah, I guess that could be the reason - but I'll take it. If it turns out to be a punch, good, I'll absorb everything. She could hurt me all she wanted - I deserved it.
Hermione stirred and Harry sat upright, expecting her to open her eyes. But she didn't. She just kept on sleeping. Harry heaved a sigh deeply and sat back on his chair. Then he heard it again.
"Harry - Harry, please! Don't mind what I say…"
Harry still had no idea what Hermione kept rattling on about in her sleep. He, however, soon remembered that it was slightly related to what she had cried to him back at Hogwarts after ignoring her about going to Dumbledore regarding the holidays.
Only that it was the opposite.
For Harry, she could have just been feeling guilty of getting over-sensitive about the issue and probably just wanted to tell him she'd support him for his every decision from now on. However that wasn't like Hermione to give herself up that easily to him. She always had been the conscience of the trio, telling him and Ron how to think straight when they were being so stupid. Now, that was the Hermione that Harry knew.
"Don't mind that, Harry - like she says," said Ginny behind her back after she woke up upon hearing Hermione talk. "She's been saying the same words all day over and over…" She then went back snoring.
There was something about it, though, that Harry couldn't help but think it something to be concerned about.
-o0o-
"Harry…"
Harry sprang awake on his chair. It was already sunup. He'd fallen asleep when he was supposed to watch over Hermione and wake Ginny if her fever got worse. He shook his head to get even more awake and rubbed his eyes open and looked around sleepily, fighting the bright sunlight that was hitting his face.
When he reopened his eyes, he saw Hermione was already sitting on her bed in front of him.
"Hermione, you don't have to get up - I could bring you whatever you need…" he began.
"How long have you been sitting there, Harry?" she said with a smile drawn on her face that was unmistakably a show of appreciation.
"Since about," Harry looked at his broken watch, "ten, I guess." Harry yawned deeply but covered his mouth immediately. "Sorry, I hope you didn't smell that…"
Hermione laughed. "Where have you been? I've hoping to meet you again since yesterday but you never came, you bastard!" Hermione said playfully.
"Sorry - I've been around the…hang on! You're up!"
"Oh, so you noticed," Hermione quipped. She laughed heartily again. Harry bent over to her and placed a palm on her forehead. It didn't feel hot at all anymore.
"Wow, your fever seems to be gone!" he said, looking happy. "That was quick…"
"Strange, but great, isn't it?" she said, looking surprised about it herself, feeling her own forehead and neck. "It just came in and went off so fast. I feel real healthy already. But the last two nights - it was murder!"
Harry snatched Stephanie Wraskon's red potion off Hermione head table. "I guess this works all right after all. I gotta thank Stephanie…" Harry didn't see the look on Hermione's face after he said that.
Hermione placed a hand on Harry's knee, making him jump slightly and almost lose hold of the bottle of potion.
"Harry, if you've been here since last night, I really thank you for standing by and looking after me. That's so sweet of you."
"Oh, yeah, y-you're welcome," stammered Harry, returning the bottle to the table.
"But, have I been snoring while I was asleep?" Hermione asked anxiously. She seemed to be more concerned about the thought of snoring while she was asleep than being at the brink of possible death because of her scorching fever. "My Mum says I always snore like pig - I hope she's just kidding!"
Harry chuckled when she saw Hermione's worried face. It was good to see Hermione being herself again. "Of course not." He hesitated. "But you were talking in your sleep, saying the same words two nights in a row."
Hermione just stared at him, looking puzzled.
"What were you dreaming about, anyway, Hermione?" Harry said, hiding the seriousness of his question by brightening the sound of his voice.
She rummaged around in her mind and shook her head. "Nothing. Why, what did I say?"
"You said I shouldn't listen to you about something." Harry mocked a fetal position and repeated the very words she said in her sleep, putting up a high voice. Harry, Harry - please don't listen…please don't listen…
Hermione pinched a huge chunk of on Harry's chest, acting angry but looking embarrassed, and making him howl in pain. Still, she didn't remember dreaming about anything.
"I might have been just delirious…"
"Well, maybe…" said Harry as he sat upright. He felt he would never know what Hermione had dreamed of, which was really a shame, even though he had tried to replant the very same words in her mind in the hope of making her remember. This was a much different case than her other nightmares earlier in the term before the Oarling came for her. She had remembered each detail clearly then and had even talked about it. This time she had no recollection of anything. Harry felt very uneasy about it, though a part of him wanted to believe it was nothing get alarmed about.
Ginny groaned under her pillow when she was woken up by Harry and Hermione's loud conversation. She looked around blearily and saw Hermione glance back at her with a grin and sitting up on her bed. She plopped back her head on her pillow, then sat upright and stared at her.
"Good gracious - you're up!" she said in disbelief. She crossed over to Hermione's bed and instinctively felt for her forehead with the back of her hand. "It's gone - your fever's gone!"
"Of course," giggled Hermione, looking amused at both Harry and Ginny's identical reaction upon seeing her she was all right. "I don't have to be sick the rest of my life, you know…"
"I know," said Ginny, kneeling on both of her knees atop Hermione's bed looking happy. "I was expecting you'd still be burning hot until at least tomorrow…but this is great!"
"What's for breakfast?" Hermione said, rubbing her stomach.
"I'll see if Mum's ready with it," Ginny said as she sprang off the bed and ran out the door. Apparently she could not wait to spread the good news Hermione had already recovered.
This left Harry and Hermione alone in the room. They both looked at each other awkwardly, exchanging nervous laughs. This could have been the perfect time for Harry to confess about his budding desire for her or to apologize about it, but he decided against it. It would be pointless, if not dangerous, to stress her further - she just came out of a bad bout of flu. Besides, he could have been the only one who was fighting with such feelings.
No, leave it, Harry told himself silently.
He had been deciding if he'd go for it or not that he didn't notice Hermione had been watching him from across her bed for a long time. When he finally raised his eyes to Hermione's, he observed that she was looking at him with unmistakable fondness - and her hand looked like it was reaching for his - hair?
"Hermione, what do you think you're doing?" he said suspiciously.
Hermione snapped back to her senses, looked around at everything other than Harry, and retreated her outstretched hand behind her back. She fumbled desperately for words to answer him.
"Nice room, isn't it?" was the only thing she managed to collect. "You could feel the air around it, too, don't you?" she added, waving her hand around, but she visibly looked furious with herself.
Harry cleared his throat. "I, uh, think I have to go - I guess you need to, uh, change!" He didn't wait for Hermione's reply and hustled towards the door. He closed the door behind him very quickly and leaned back on it, and blew a deep breath - he felt as if he had just sprinted for miles. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. She hadn't done that to him before. Not ever.
Did I really see that for real? What did that mean?
- You perfectly know what that meant, dung brain!
AH!
Feeling excited, he pressed his ears against the door hoping to hear what Hermione was doing back inside; he heard her growl with herself, and then she finally went into a fit of giggles. He didn't know it, but he had just pulled off the widest of smiles he has had for ages and forgetting about his most recent resolution.
-o0o-
Next Chapter coming next week…