Chapter 3: O.W.L.S
The next morning Harry was awakened by the sound of incessant pecking at his window, he rolled over and spotted an owl. Harry crawled out of bed and hurried to the window wondering who would be writing him since he was already at Grimmauld Place with all his friends. The owl flew in and dropped a letter on his bed, and one on Ron's head as he slept, the letter stayed put until he rolled over.
Harry closed the window and ran over to his bed to see what he had received. He had two letters, the first was his school supplies list and the other was his O.W.L scores. Harry nervously pulled the parchment out of the envelope and read it. He nearly dropped it when he read that he had gotten ten O.W.L.S and he had gotten into Snape's N.E.W.T. level potion's class, he couldn't help but think that Professor Dumbledore or Mcgonagoll had something to do with it, although he didn't really care.
Harry heard someone squeal from the room below his and realized Hermione must have done very well on hers as well, as if there was any doubt. He pulled on some clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen still clutching his letter in his hands. Mrs. Weasley was preparing breakfast when he walked in.
"We got our scores today Mrs. Weasley." Harry told her.
"Oh really, how did you do dear?"
"I received ten O.W.L.S, even one in astronomy. I didn't think I would get one in that after what happened with Professor Mcgonagoll."
"Oh Harry dear that is wonderful, I am so proud of you and I'm sure Sirius would be as well. Do you think you could run and wake Ron up, breakfast is ready?"
"Sure Mrs. Weasley." Harry ran back up to their bedroom where Ron was snoring loudly.
"Ron!" he yelled. Ron grunted and mumbled something in his sleep knocking his owl scores to the floor.
"Get up Ron, breakfast is ready!" Harry yelled in his ear.
"I'm up!"he yelled back. "Hey what's this?" Ron asked spotting the letter in the floor.
"School list and your owl scores." Harry told him as he walked out of the room. He thought he heard Ron give an exasperated groan.
Harry met Ginny and Hermione on the second floor landing, Hermione was smiling widely and Ginny seemed to have just woken up.
"How did you do Harry?" Hermione asked him.
"Ten, you?"
"I got twelve, can you believe it? I can't wait to owl mum and dad and tell them." Hermione said as they walked through the kitchen door. "I'm very proud of you Harry, I'm happy that you got ten." Hermione said as they sat down.
Ron came bounding into the room also with a smile on his face.
"How did you do Ron?" Harry asked him.
"I got 8, didn't get one in potions or Divination though. Guess that comment I made to the administrator counted off." Harry smiled thinking about Ron telling the tester to beware a man with a long nose, when in fact he was looking at the man's reflection.
"Oh Ron I am so proud of you..." Mrs. Weasley said as she sat plates down in front of them all. "Did you get your school list as well?"
Harry pulled his list out of his pocket and looked over it, there were a few new things including robes made of dragon hide.
"We did Mrs. Weasley, but why are we suppose to get robes made of dragon hide?" Harry asked curiously.
"I suppose Dumbledore wants you all to have extra protection. You do know that dragon hide robes absorb most
simple spells, and even a few advanced ones." Mrs. Weasley told them off- handedly.
"I'm going to Diagon Alley today to buy your school things. Remus will be here with you most of the day then I
believe Tonks may drop by."
"Alright mum,"Ron muttered with a mouthful of eggs.
"Just wanted to make sure you lot knew where I was today. Now Harry dear I hate to ask you to do this, but do you think you, Ron, Hermione and Ginny could clean out some of the dark arts books in the attic. There are a few up there that could be very useful, if you look hard enough"
"Sure Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied lying. He didn't want to go through anything that had once belonged to Sirius, not yet anyway. Ron and Hermione would be there to help him, he supposed it would give him a little support.
After breakfast they all made their way to the attic to help sort through the many books that Sirius' family had
collected over the years. There were books of all kinds, Hermione just stared opened mouthed at the room, all of these
books were free and Harry knew she was itching to sit down and read all of them.
After a few hours the pile of books had diminished slightly, Harry had made his own pile for books to keep. Most were
books on curses and hexes he thought he could learn. Lunch time rolled around and they went downstairs to make some
sandwiches, Ron kept complaining about how hungry he was, even right after breakfast. Hermione couldn't help but
laugh at him.
That afternoon they were back up in the attic again and Harry and Hermione seemed to have separated themselves from Ron and Ginny. Harry had found one of Sirius' old school books and was reading through the different things he had scribbled inside the pages. Hermione noticed how sad he looked and went over and sat beside him.
"Are you ok Harry?" She asked him quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just looking at one of Sirius' old school books. My dad wrote in it, see." Hermione looked at the page and saw that James had in fact scribbled James loves Lily onto the page. Hermione smiled at the thought.
Harry sat the book down into his pile to keep and turned to Hermione. "You know Hermione, I'm glad you guys are here with me. I couldn't have made it through the summer without you."
Hermione leaned over and hugged him softly, Harry wasn't surprised by the show of emotion from her, they had always shown each other how they felt. He turned his head sideways to where he could smell her hair, strawberries he thought. He found himself oddly attracted to Hermione right then and didn't want to release her from the hug, but he did. She smiled back at him and grabbed his hand in hers. He blushed at the sweet gesture and then cursed himself slightly for blushing, he didn't notice Hermione was blushing as well.
The day rolled into evening and they had finally finished in the attic. Harry was preoccupied ever since he and Hermione had hugged, he found himself staring at her and wanting to be near her more. The smell of strawberries lingered under his nose all day.
Harry couldn't get Hermione out of his mind, no matter what he thought about she seemed to always take over. He didn't know why he was feeling like this, he had never looked at her as more than a friend before but for some reason this summer was different. She seemed to have grown to him and filled out more. Her hair was still bushy but also it had tamed slightly. Harry had no idea the same things he had been thinking about had been running through Hermione's mind as well.
Hermione was lost as to why she kept wanting to touch Harry, she kept finding ways to hold his hand or give him a hug or just run her fingers through his hair. She was drawn to his deep green eyes, she had always thought that they were intense but now she felt like he was burning a hole in her, straight to her heart. She felt sympathy for him sure, who wouldn't? She also felt more, stronger feelings she had never had for him before. She wanted to just sit and talk with him alone and she wanted him to kiss her, she had never wanted that before. Hermione kept checking her appearance every time she passed a mirror, since when did she care what she looked like around Harry. Even when he smiled at her she could feel her stomach flutter slightly.
When Mrs. Weasley returned home that evening she gave all four of them their new school supplies.
Harry took his up to his room to examine the new robes that they were required to wear outside now. He couldn't
help but feel slightly apprehensive about returning to school. Someone knocked at the door and he went to see who it
was, Ginny Weasley walked in.
"Harry, are you ok? You seemed distant today." Ginny was walking towards Harry slowly, she had an odd look to her face.
"No, I'm fine Gin. Just thinking today is all." Harry told her as he stepped backwards towards his bed.
"You know Harry, I've been needing to tell you something for a while now." She smiled at him. He was feeling really nervous now, maybe it was because Ginny was standing only inches from him.
"Really, what have you been needing to tell me?" He asked her as he fell backwards onto his bed.
"Why are you so nervous Harry, it's just me?" She asked him sweetly.
"I'm not nervous." He replied.
"Well, I just wanted you to know that I still have feelings for you." She leaned over to where she was right over top of Harry, neither of them heard the bedroom door open, Ron and Hermione just stood rooted to the spot watching Ginny.
"Er, Gin.....Are you felling alright?" Harry said as he tried to scoot out from under her.
"Fine. Just realized something, I needed you to know how I feel."
"That's really sweet Ginny but I don't think of you like that. You are like a little sister to me, maybe you should leave." Neither of them heard Ron exhale deeply from the doorway, he was scared that Harry was liking the situation.
"Do you fancy someone else? Cho maybe?" She asked as she crawled on the bed and had Harry pinned down.
"No, I don't fancy her. It's someone else," he couldn't believe how stupid he was for letting that slip.
"Well when I'm finished you won't fancy her anymore." Ginny leaned in and planted a passionate kiss on Harry, the entire time he was struggling to get away.
Once she pulled away Harry just stared at her. "Gin, I told you I didn't like you. Don't do that to me."
Ginny was upset that he didn't kiss her back. "I know what your problem in, you fancy Hermione. Don't think I haven't seen the way you both have been looking at each other all day. You are all she talked about before you got here."
"I don't.....really?"
"See, I knew it. Fine, break my heart again, I don't care." Ginny stood up and turned to walk away and spotted Ron and Hermione in the doorway. She let out a small peep of surprise, Harry turned to see what she was looking at.
"Ginny, I think you should leave." Ron said to her furiously.
"What if I don't want to?"
"I'll tell mum that you were trying to seduce Harry." Ginny sprinted from the room and down to her and Hermione's room. "Harry?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," he was nervous, what if Ron thought he was the one that asked Ginny to kiss him.
"Don't worry about Ginny, she has been a real nutter lately. Don't know what has gotten into her.."Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Listen, did you check out those new robes we have, bloody brilliant if you ask me."
Harry felt instantly better about the whole situation, Ron wasn't mad at him but he kept feeling someone staring at
him. Hermione never spoke to Ron or Harry the entire time she sat in their room with them. She kept thinking about what
Ginny had said to Harry and wondering if it was true, did she fancy Harry?
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