"Harry. Harry. Harry, open the door."
Hermione stood outside the door to Harry's dorm room, trying to get him to unlock it and let her enter. She might as well have been talking to the wall, however, because there was absolutely no response from him.
Inside the room, Harry was hunched over his bed, breathing hard. His sudden outburst had surprised even him, and he didn't know what to do next. Everything seemed so confusing... Ron and Hermione, him and Hermione, Neville, Hermione, Ron... everything was jumbling together in his mind, not allowing him to pursue one of them at a time.
Outside the room, Hermione sighed in frustration and turned to Neville, who had come up beside her. "He's not listening," she said.
"Let me try," responded Neville, and he moved over next to the door. "Harry," he said.
No response.
"Harry," Neville repeated. "Harry, are you in there?"
Still no response.
"Harry!" Neville fairly shouted. "Harry! Are you listening to me?!"
Nothing.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!!!!" shouted Neville at the top of his lungs. "HARRY!! JAMES!! POTTER!!!!!!!! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!?!?!?!"
Still, not a sound.
Neville kicked the ground in frustration and turned back to Hermione, shaking his head.
"Oh, this is so stupid," Hermione said angrily. "I didn't mean to- I didn't mean to say that- the way I said it- I just meant- oh, Alohomora!"
The door immediately sprang open, revealing Harry standing there.
With a gasp of surprise and anger, he turned to face them. "What the hell do you want?!" he shouted in a voice that surprised even himself.
Shaking, Hermione somehow found her voice. "Harry-" she croaked. "Harry- Harry, I didn't mean it the way I said it-"
"Yeah, then, why the hell did you say it?!" Harry yelled back.
"Harry- Harry, please listen- Harry, I didn't mean to sound so... like we were just reassuring you for the sake of it... really, Harry-"
"Yeah, well, I DON'T GODDAMN CARE!!!!!!" shouted Harry at the top of his voice. "I DON'T GODDAMN CARE WHAT THE HELL YOU MEANT TO SAY, WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT TO SAY, I DON'T GODDAMN CARE!! I'M THROUGH WITH YOU; I DON'T NEED ANY EXPLANATIONS OF WHAT YOU WANTED TO SAY, I DON'T FREAKING CARE!!!!!!! YOU AND RON CAN GO DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO DO BECAUSE I'M NOT A PART OF IT, OBVIOUSLY, SO JUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Having used all his energy up, Harry, breathing hard from that outburst, threw himself onto the bed and flung the curtains shut.
Ashen-faced and shaking, Hermione slowly backed out of the room, followed by Neville. The two made their way back down to the common room. Neither of them spoke.
"Well," said Neville at last, "that sure didn't work out."
Bursting into tears, Hermione ran from the room.