Harry mounted the flights of stairs until he came to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Hey, buddy!" the Fat Lady exclaimed.
Harry stared at her, wondering if perhaps she was drunk or something. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked down near her frame and found a large collection of empty bourbon bottles.
"Er..." faltered Harry, staring up at her. Did the passwords work on intoxicated guardians? As he was contemplating this, he heard footsteps down the hall and looked up to see who it was.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed at the same time Hermione exclaimed, "Harry!"
"What are you doing here?" questioned Hermione.
"Looking for you," Harry responded.
"Me?" Hermione asked, obviously very surprised. "But why?"
"Well," started Harry, blushing, "Luna said you'd been real distant for the past couple of weeks... so I came up here to see how you were."
Hermione's mouth opened in surprise, then closed. "Harry," she said softly, "that was really nice of you. Thanks."
"No problem," Harry muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and blushing furiously.
"Ah, well," continued Hermione, "do you- do you want to go eat, then?"
"Er, okay," Harry agreed, and the two set off together for the Great Hall.
"Where were you, anyway?" he continued. "I thought you were just getting something from your room."
Hermione blushed. "Oh, I was- was just- just doing something else," she muttered. Harry got the feeling that she didn't really want to reveal what she had been doing right then.
On the fourth floor, the pair of them ran into Peeves, who grinned wickedly and wagged his finger at them.
"Ooh, lookie who it is," he cackled. "Potter and his girlfriend. How do his- um- lips feel on yours, Granger?"
Harry felt his whole face turning red. He glanced over at Hermione and saw that she, too, had had the exact same reaction.
"Well, well?" taunted Peeves. "How do his abs look? And how about his chest? And- does Potter have a good-looking butt?!" He burst out into a wild cackle of laughter.
"Peeves, shut up!" yelled Harry, glancing over at Hermione, who had closed her eyes and was now shaking.
"Ooooh, have I struck a nerve?" cackled Peeves again. "Are ickle Potter and Granger feeling- embarassed?"
Harry grabbed Hermione and started with her down the hallway. "Come on, Hermione, we're going to the Bloody Baron," he said firmly.
The gloating look on Peeves's face vanished, and a look of horror and pleading replaced it. "You wouldn't- you wouldn't-" he gasped, swooshing over in front of Harry and Hermione.
"We would," replied Harry firmly, pulling Hermione around a corner. "Now get out of the way, Peeves."
Peeves cursed and swooshed away down a dark corridor. Harry heard him muttering, "No sense in waiting around for the Bloody Baron; I'm getting out."
"Don't worry, Peeves, the Bloody Baron will find you, wherever you are!" Harry shouted after him.
When he was sure Peeves had gone, Harry looked down at Hermione, whom he was holding onto tightly. She was trembling, and seemed to be shivering.
"Hermione?" asked Harry softly, bending down in front of her. "Hermione? Are you all right?"
Hermione opened her eyes. She gave a great shuddering sigh, then sobbed, "Harry... Harry... Peeves... I hate Peeves..."
Harry gave her a hug. "Don't listen to Peeves," he said firmly. "He's an idiot. Now, let's go down and eat, okay?"
Hermione gave a small sob, then nodded. The two walked down to the Great Hall together.