All right, a bit of randomosity before the fic.
I really don't understand why people are still asking me in the reviews if Harry and Hermione are going to get together when I already said at the beginning of Chapter One that they were. So again, I repeat; THIS IS A H/HR FIC! This is not, however, a fanfic where they will get together from the get go. Where would the plot be? Where would the drama be? Where would the climax be? Where would the story be? I'm not saying this again: They'll get together eventually and if you cannot wait, read something else.
Freedom From Fear
"Most of you would have remembered your Fourth Year when a deranged Death Eater by the name of Bartemus Crouch Jr. used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate me and as such, taught my classes for all of that year while I lay almost lifeless in my trunk." Professor Moody limped across the classroom, his wooden leg clunking as he did so.
"So of course you could understand my hesitation to come back here when Dumbledore asked. There was only one reason that I decided to take on this job, and his name you are afraid to call."
Harry sat up in his seat at the mention of Lord Voldemort and listened as Moody continued with his speech the following morning after breakfast.
"Fear, ladies and gentlemen, can be your worst enemy as well as your best friend." Moody stopped halfway across the room and turned to them, his magical eye whizzing in its socket. "Your best friend because on rare occasions, it will be your fear that will lead to an impulse action which will save your life. An impulse action that under normal circumstances, you wouldn't have even considered. Such as putting a Binding Hex on your attacker so that you may Apparate to another location. But in most situations, it is your worse enemy, as with the case of Lord Voldemort." Gasps came from every angle of the classroom as the Dark Lord's name was said. Harry was one of the few that looked unmoved.
"Why is it that you cannot say his name?!" Moody barked. "He can say yours!"
Beside Harry, Neville Longbottom gulped and Harry knew that he was thinking of his parents who were currently lying at St. Mungo's.
"My aim for this year, ladies and gentlemen? It is to allow you to overcome your fears. If you were to ever meet upon a Death Eater or worse, the Dark Lord himself, I can tell you from now that fear will most definitely not be your best friend!" With that, Moody waved his wand. The classroom immediately darken, and screams to erupted. Almost as soon as they were heard, the room was once again filled with light. Moody stood before them looking rather disgusted.
"If a simple Darkening Spell has caused you to become so afraid, how are you to ever stand the real world of darkness, which let me tell you, isn't so far away?!"
The frightened students could say nothing as they knew that he was right.
"Your first assignment!" Moody growled as he limped over to the board. "Write an essay on fear. I'm not going to tell you what to write about and what not to, nor am I giving you a specific length for this essay either. I am leaving this up to your discretion, but I am going to tell you this: All of your work done in this class shall be graded twice; once by myself and the second time shall be the moment that you step off the Hogwarts Express and are faced with the real world."
Harry, along with the others, immediately took out his quill and wrote down the assignment. Moody watched as they did so and it was only when the last person had looked up that he continued.
"Now I was informed by various sources, the teacher that was assigned to you last year was anything but a professor of Defense Against The Dark Arts." Moody's face held an expression of disgust, which for the first time since he'd arrived in the room caused a few students to chuckle. "It is therefore my first aim to mend all damage done. We shall therefore spend the rest of this class assessing what it is that you can and cannot do. Stand!"
At once, the students jumped to their feet and with a flick of Moody's wand, the desks disappeared and were instead replaced by comfortable looking cushions. Harry was immediately overwhelmed by nostalgia as he remembered that this was exactly how the Room of Requirement had been set up during his meetings with the DA in his fifth year. The few DA students that were in the classroom had the same looks on their faces.
"If ever you find yourself in a situation where you know that your best bet at defeating your opponent was to get him away from his/her wand, which spell would you use?"
Hermione and Neville's hand immediately went up.
"You boy, what's your name?" Moody growled.
"N-Neville Longbottom." Neville stuttered.
"Longbottom, eh?" Moody eyed him curiously and Harry knew that he was thinking of his parents. "Which spell would you use?"
Harry knew what he was going to say, as it was the first spell that he had taught the DA.
"Expelliarmus, Professor." Neville spoke up.
"Expelliarmus!" Moody growled as he did a little step. "The spell that is always looked over because of how basic it is, but is the one that can save your life in situations where you least expect it!"
Harry thought of the scene in the graveyard where he used it to once escape Lord Voldemort and nodded. Standing beside her sister, Alexandria Megghross eyed him curiously but immediately turned to look at Moody when he started speaking again.
"I want you to form a line and one by one, you will each attempt to disarm me. From now until the end of this year, we shall spend the first twenty minutes of every class practicing basic spells, as they are the ones that count when it comes down to the very last second." Moody waved his wand at his desk and immediately, it disappeared.
Harry walked over to the line and stood behind Hermione, who hadn't said a word to him since the night before when he'd caught her staring at him and Alexandria. One by one, he watched as the students attempted to disarm Moody. The first five failed miserably and so Moody sent them to the back of the line and ordered them to perfect it by the time that they returned to the front. Neville was the first person in the line that was able to successfully disarm Moody and he did it with such a force that Moody's hand went up in the air as his wand was torn away. This shocked the entire class as well as their Professor and Harry felt a sense of pride, as he knew that he had taken part in Neville's maturity where this subject matter was concerned.
"Come here boy!" Moody growled. Harry watched as a rather frightened Neville walked up to the professor. "Do you see this boy?!" Moody shouted. "This boy is one who has experienced fear and has dealt with it! You could feel it as he shouted the spell. There was passion! Passion for life will make you want to save it! Passion for life will make you pass this class! Ten point to Gryffindor for Neville Longbottom overcoming his fear!"
Neville, who'd clearly thought that he was about to be punished by Professor Moody, smiled a bit nervously as he made his way over to the corner of the room where he could watch what would happen next. The line moved at a slow pace and a few more students were sent to the back of the line. Soon Harry found that Moody's magical eye was upon him as he was next. From the corner of his eye, Harry could see that both Jaida and Alexandria were watching him from where they stood beside Neville. Hermione was watching as well, but she was standing far away from the two, almost as if they'd gotten the plague. Knowing what he had to do, Harry raised his wand, and with as much effort that he had said it that night in the graveyard, yelled the word that as Moody said, would save his life when he'd least thought that it would.
"Expelliarmus!"
The force of the spell sent Moody tumbling back unto the cushion, which he had strategically laid out behind, and caused a few of the girls to gasp. Moody however, shocked them all by laughing as Harry attempted to help him up.
"Ten more points to Gryffindor!" Moody shouted. "I want you all to take a page out both Mr. Longbottom's and Mr. Potter's books and I want you to study them hard. This is the kind of emotion that I want you to have!"
Harry found it very hard to not smile as he walked over to the spot where Neville and the girls stood. He looked over at Hermione and to his surprise, found that she was staring ahead. He seriously wondered what was wrong but didn't have much time to ponder it, as Moody was currently using Crabbe as an example of what not to do when faced with fear. Like Cho had done when she was nervous, Crabbe had yelled the wrong word, which had ignited Moody's cloak. It had been Beau Megghross, who was next in line that had put out the fire thus earning Gryffindor another ten points.
"Do you see what happens when you're filled with fear? You say the wrong words. Yes, that would have helped Mr. Crabbe here, but suppose he'd yelled something else? Suppose he'd yelled a Drying Charm? How on earth would that have helped him?" Moody's yells caused them all to laugh as Harry could only imagine how little help a drying charm would have been in defending himself against Voldemort. "Ten points from Slytherin for Mr. Crabbe here trying to up Mr. Potter and thus succumbing to his fear of embarrassment!"
Harry had no doubts in his mind that as Crabbe walked to the back of the line, that he was indeed embarrassed. By the time that the class had ended, they had practiced three basic charms with everyone in the class being able to do them successfully. Harry was so excited about the year ahead in Defense Against The Dark Arts that he didn't mind that he would have to spend his free period in the library doing his Transfiguration assignment.
*
"Have I done something to offend you?" Draco Malfoy stood calmly waiting on Jaida Megghross as she left her Defense Against The Dark Arts Class. He'd intended to speak with her before class, but she'd once again chosen to eat with her sister and with the work that they'd had to do in class, found that he hadn't been able to speak with her at all. Now that they had two free periods ahead, he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.
"Why would you think that?" Jaida asked while waving goodbye to her sister. Draco watched as Alexandria walked off in the other direction with Potter and Longbottom, before turning back to Jaida.
"Because you've been avoiding me ever since yesterday morning after Potions." he replied.
Jaida tucked her quill into her bag before answering him. "I haven't been avoiding you, Draco. I've simply chosen to spend my time with someone who doesn't delight himself with frivolous matters."
"Are you trying to indirectly tell me that I like to engage in frivolous matters?" Draco asked. He was beginning to find Jaida's attitude towards him very offensive, and he wasn't sure if he wanted this sort of behaviour to continue.
"No. I am directly telling you that, Draco." Jaida looked at him quite seriously as they ascended towards the Slytherin dungeons.
"And what made you come to such a conclusion?" Draco demanded.
Jaida looked unmoved by his raised tone as she answered his question. "Yesterday in Potions, I made a comment about you and Harry. Do you remember it?"
"Potter?" Draco asked. "You mean the one about there being better things in this world than keeping malice with him?"
"That's the one." Jaida slowed as they approached the entrance to their house's common room. Draco said the password and they entered before he responded.
"You're not talking to me because I don't fancy Potter? I'll have you know that he's the reason why my poor father is sitting in a cell at Azkaban!" Draco held Jaida's hand and led her up a set of stairs, then towards the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. He said the password and they entered his private room shortly after. Jaida looked around the lavishly decorated room that his father had arranged for him as a present for being named prefect in his fifth year, then faced him.
"Harry isn't the reason why your father was arrested at the Ministry Of Magic last June, Draco and we both know it. Don't blame him because he happened to be the person that your father was sent to harm and couldn't." Jaida made no attempts to hide the fact that she was becoming slightly annoyed with Draco's whining.
Draco on the other hand, decided to ignore her last comment (besides the fact that he knew that it was the truth), and continued to address her about the issue at hand.
"So in order for you to speak to me, I have to make nice with Potter, is that what you're saying?"
Jaida shook her head. "No. In order to speak to me, you have to stop acting childish. Immediately after we left Potions, what did you do?"
Draco looked at her confused. "I sat with Blaise during Transfiguration because you were ignoring me."
"Before that." Jaida snapped.
"I don't know," Draco said clearly confused. "I walked to class."
"And on your way to class, what did you do?" Jaida asked. Clearly she wasn't going to come out and say what it was that Draco had done. Had it been any other person, Draco would have ordered him/her out of his room and refrained from speaking to them again. But this wasn't any other person that he was speaking to, this was Jaida Megghross.
"Do you mean what I said to that Ravenclaw boy about his birthmark?" Draco asked suddenly realizing what she was trying to get at. Jaida nodded.
"But the horrid thing covered his entire face!" Draco said.
"Which is exactly why you shouldn't have teased him!" Jaida responded. "Do you know how he probably felt to have you embarrass him like that?"
Draco said nothing as his mind was going over the scene in the Great Hall when Weasley had made the comment about Pansy in front of his friends and a group of Gryffindor students.
"Exactly." Jaida whispered, almost as if she could read his mind. Draco looked up at her curiously, but figured that she could read his facial expression and so didn't bother to ask.
"So is it that you want me to apologize to them?" He asked.
Jaida shook her head. "I wouldn't ask you to do that; I just want you to think before you open that mouth of yours. I know that there is more to you than your looks, and you can still hold your reputation without picking on first years to entertain your so-called friends."
Draco found himself sitting in his favourite snakeskin chair as Jaida watched him. He honestly didn't know why he was even considering what she was saying, as the only female that could get him to take her seriously was his mother. But as he'd found out while analyzing her, Jaida Megghross was definitely not like any other female that he'd met.
She didn't allow herself to conform and she stood up for herself, and not to mention the fact that Jaida and her sister were officially the most beautiful girls in school. It most definitely wouldn't hurt to have a girl like her on his arm, which had been why he'd made sure to introduce himself to her before anyone else could. But after getting to know her that evening and the parts of the following day that she would allow, Draco found himself strangely wanting more from Jaida Megghross than just someone equally as beautiful as he on his arm.
"Fine, but if Potter says anything to me..."
"Then you'll be more than welcome to retaliate." Jaida smiled.
Draco nodded feeling somewhat pleased with the turn of events and with the flick of his wand, the nearby portrait moved aside to reveal a hidden cupboard, which was stacked with enough goodies for Draco to throw the entire house of Slytherin a party, should he ever decide to.
"Would you like anything?"
Jaida shook her head as he helped himself to a box of Honeyduke sweets. "No thank you, I've got to go to the library. I promised Neville that I'd help him with our Herbology assignment."
Draco looked up from his treats. "Neville? You hang out with Longbottom?"
"Would that be a problem?" Jaida asked sweetly.
Draco shook his head as he reached into the box. "Well not for me since I'm not going to be seen with him, but have your fun."
Jaida smiled. "Goodbye Draco, I'll see you at lunch."
"Oh so you'll grace me with you presence then?" He asked referring to the fact that she hadn't sat with him for the last two meals.
"Be careful, Draco, or I'll ask Dumbledore me to transfer to Gryffindor so that I can be in Harry Potter's house." Jaida winked at him before disappearing through the door. Draco's response was to fetch himself a chocolate frog. He'd let the Potter joke slide, but only because she was once again speaking to him.
*
Hagrid had invited Harry, Ron and Hermione to lunch, since they had all chosen to drop Care Of Magical Creatures, despite the fact that they'd all received good grades for their OWLs. Though the three had had free periods before lunch, they arrived at Hagrid's hut at different times. Harry arrived second and was rather surprised when Hermione smiled at him as she answered the door. She'd spent most of the morning avoiding him and it was only now that they were at Hagrid's that she decided to be civil. Harry wondered if it were because she didn't want Hagrid knowing that something was the matter but since he knew her better than that, he quickly set that notion aside. Something was definitely up, but he'd have to find out what later.
"Harry!" Hagrid smiled widely as he placed the jug of pumpkin juice on the table. "Been worried about ye all summer. How are ya?"
Harry smiled as he was wrapped in the half-giant's embrace and his response came out in muffles again Hagrid's clothing.
"Good, good." Hagrid said as he went over to the table and began laying down plates. "Figured that ye were alright; just was making sure is all."
"Dobby just brought the food, so it's safe to eat." Hermione whispered as Hagrid began to place four wooden cups on the table as well. Harry nodded a bit grateful that Hagrid hadn't attempted to prepare the meal, as he was hungry after a morning of hard work.
"So 'ow was yer summer?" Hagrid asked as he went over to the door to let Ron in.
"As good as it would ever be with the Dursley's." Harry responded honestly.
"They didn't hurt ya, did they?" Hagrid turned suddenly, causing Ron to jump in order to avoid being hit.
"No." Harry shook his head. "I just meant that summers with them are always boring."
"Oh." Hagrid said. "Ye had me worried there fer a moment."
Harry believed him, knowing very well that Hagrid was very protective when it came to either of them, especially himself.
"Hagrid the kettle." Hermione eyed the fire where the kettle was currently shaking in protest of being left over the heat for too long.
"Ah yes!" Hagrid rushed over to it and used a cloth to take it up. Meanwhile, Harry and the others took a seat at the table and once Hagrid had poured himself some tea (they declined politely), they ate.
Harry noticed within the first ten minutes of the meal that Hermione was speaking up more often than usual and once again wondered if something had been the matter over the past few days why she'd acted in such a way. She seemed to feel his gaze upon her, because she looked up and smiled at him before returning to her conversation with Hagrid.
They were talking about one of the dragons that she'd seen while she and her parents vacationed in Romania, and Ron, who's older brother Charlie worked with dragons, joined in occasionally. Harry sat back not at all resenting the fact that he wasn't able to relate to them. After his experience with a dragon during the Triwizard tournament in his fourth year, Harry had had more than his fair share of them.
"So Harry, how are ye finding the NEWT classes?" Hagrid turned the conversation towards him. Harry supposed that he didn't want any of his guests left out.
"Potions is a disaster," he shrugged to show that it didn't bother him. "But besides that, I'm getting along quite fine. Our Defense Against The Dark Arts class was great this morning."
"Harry knocked Moody over with his Disarming Spell and got ten points for Gryffindor." Hermione smiled at him proudly, which caused Harry to be even more confused. She hadn't even looked his way throughout the entire class, and now she was bragging about him in front of Hagrid.
"Did ye now Harry?" Hagrid looked at him. Harry nodded to show that he in fact had and Hermione continued.
"He did. Moody even told us that we were to take a page out of his book and study hard."
Harry was going to mention that he'd said the same thing about Neville, but his mouth was filled with stew and by the time that he had swallowed, the conversation had moved on.
By the time that the three began to make their way back to the castle, the bell that signaled the end of lunch was ringing and Harry and Hermione said goodbye to Ron as they made their way to the Gryffindor tower to collect their bags, which they had dropped off along the way.
"Seeing Hagrid really reminded you of the old times, didn't it?" Hermione smiled at Harry as they approached the Fat Lady's portrait. Apparently she hadn't really been expecting an answer, as she continued to chat animatedly about how change was inevitable, but that she wished that it wouldn't come, and Harry was once again confused.
Hermione was speaking as if they were four estranged friends who'd somehow managed to meet for lunch despite their busy lives, when in reality, they saw each other every day. And Harry had absolutely no idea as to which planet she was living on as she referred to the inevitable change that was to come. He felt that the only thing that changed was her emotions and they were so rapid that Harry decided it best to not even try and keep up. It wasn't until the Fat Lady made herself known that either of them realized that they'd arrived outside of the Gryffindor common room.
"You again." She wrinkled her nose at Harry. "Is it that you lose track of time when you're with a girl and stand before me, or do you take pleasure in annoying me?"
"Sorry." Harry smiled nervously.
"Blast-Ended Skrewts." Hermione's once pleasant face suddenly looked cross at the Fat Lady's statement and no sooner than the entrance appeared, did she go through and leave him standing confused.
He went in not wanting the Fat Lady to start quarrelling again and went up to his dormitory to get his bag. He'd intended to go back down and wait for Hermione to see what was wrong, but after two minutes of standing by her staircase, he figured that she'd already gone.
"Hello Harry." Alexandria Megghross appeared at the top of the staircase and began to descend. "Are you waiting on someone?"
"Yes." Harry answered. "Hermione."
"She left." Alexandria stood on the last step. "She stormed into the room and grabbed her bag. Do you know what's wrong with her?"
Harry shook his head. "I was waiting to ask her myself."
"Well she has Arithmancy with my brother now, so I suppose that you'll have to wait until dinner." Alexandria shifted her bag from one shoulder to the next.
"I suppose so." Harry realized that the two had been standing there for nearly a minute and that the Gryffindor common room was in fact empty. "We have Potions soon, don't we?"
"We do." Alexandria smiled.
"I suppose that we should go then." Harry glanced back up at the staircase almost as if willing Hermione to appear as Alexandria came down the final step.
"Harry." Alexandria said as they began to walk across the room.
"Yes?"
"I hope you don't think me nosy," She said as they left common room. "But are you and Hermione a couple?"
Harry looked at her suddenly as if it were the most ridiculous thing that she'd said. Him and Hermione ... that would be like incest.
"No. Why would you ever think that?"
Alexandria shrugged. "Nothing really, it's just that there has been talk..."
"Well we're not together, and never will be. She and Ron are my best friends; I don't see her in any other way." Harry confirmed.
Alexandria's dimpled smiled appeared on her face once more as they neared the Transfiguration classroom. He held the door out for her and went over to his usual seat expecting her to go and sit with her sister, but when she came and sat on the other side of him, Harry took it as a good sign. Maybe girls weren't so confusing after all, at least one wasn't.
From the looks of things, Alexandria most definitely liked him.
*
Later that evening, Ron and Harry sat in the common room playing Wizard Chess near the fire. Ginny sat nearby playing with Crookshanks. Beside her was Luna Lovegood, who watched rather intently as they played while stroking Midnight (her Siamese kitten). Hermione, who had ignored Harry ever since they'd returned to the common room after lunch, sat over in an armchair reading a rather thick novel.
The portrait hole opened and Jaida and Alexandria Megghross appeared with a package each. They said hello to everyone before heading off to the sixth year boys' dormitory, more than likely Harry guessed, to hand Beau whatever was in package number three. Had he bother to glance at Hermione, he'd have seen the dangerous glare that she'd given the girls while turning the page of her novel.
"Careful Harry." Luna said softly.
He looked up at her rather surprised to find that she was still there, as she hadn't said a word since she and Ginny had returned from the library. He looked down at the board, but didn't see anything that he'd thought that he should be worried about.
"Luna!" Ginny scolded while smiling. Apparently she had seen it as well. Now Harry was really worried, he'd bet Ron his last box of Honeyduke sweets and with the Hogsmeade weekend still weeks away, hadn't wanted to give it up.
"Come on Harry." Ron said impatiently. It was either he wanted Harry to break his concentration, or he really was getting impatient. Harry chose the first one and deliberately brought a pensive look on his face as he peered at the board, searching in vain for a possible trap to avoid walking into. Seeing none, he moved his queen forward and was met by an immediate giggle from Ginny as Ron smiled.
"Checkmate."
Harry looked down at the board with his mouth opened, not at all believing that he had overlooked such a simple move and had given himself away.
"It's like Moody says, mate," Ron said, smiling as he began to line up the pieces. "The basic ones are always overlooked."
Harry stood. "I'll go get your candy."
Ginny giggled even more as he walked away, and Harry noticed that the giggles stopped when he reached the staircase. Beau and his sisters were currently descending the stairs. Harry smiled knowing that she more than likely had a bit of a crush on him. He wasn't in the least bit surprised as most girls were and as one had pointed out, Draco Malfoy was certainly getting his fair share of competition.
It wasn't as if Malfoy seemed to care, Harry thought as he retrieved the box of sweets from his trunk, he seemed too hypnotized by Jaida to even care that her brother was taking all of the girls away. By the time that he got down the stairs, Hermione was gone, as were Beau, Ginny and Jaida.
"Did they all go off somewhere together?" Harry asked as he handed Ron the box of treats. Ron, who was currently playing Wizard Chess with Luna, didn't answer, as it was his turn. Alexandria, who had stayed behind, replied.
"Hermione went to the library and the others went down to the Quidditch pitch to practice. Beau's going to try out this Thursday for the team. He was our house's Beater." she replied.
"He was?" Harry asked.
Alexandria nodded. "I'm going down to play as well, but I waited behind to see if you wanted to join."
"To play or to watch?"
Alexandria shrugged. "To play I hope. Ginny says that you're a great Seeker."
"He is." Ron said, eyes on the board. "Youngest one Hogwarts has seen in a century; started in our first year and always wins matches for us... Oh, and he's the new captain." Harry watched as he offered Luna the box of treats.
"So what will it be, captain?" Alexandria asked, an amused smile on her face.
Harry didn't need to think about that. After months of not playing due to Umbridge's attempted banishing of him from the game the year before, he was more than excited to get back in the air where he belonged. "I'll just get my broom."
*
Ron watched as Harry and Alexandria disappeared through the portrait hole before turning back to the game. Luna was currently sitting with her back up straight, one hand massaging her kitten's head, while her eyes surveyed the board.
He liked the way that she played the game and had to admit that she was probably even more serious at him than he was. She watched him intensely as he thought about and made his moves and then she analyzed the board from possibly every angle before making the wisest move. Ron knew that it would be a really long game, as he wasn't about to lose it to Luna by making the wrong move.
"It's your turn, Ronald." Luna used her free hand to tuck some strands of her hair behind her ear.
"Why do you call me Ronald?" He asked reading the board.
"It is your name, isn't it?" Luna replied simply.
"Yes," Ron tapped his fingers as he mentally went over the game's previous moves. "But everyone calls me Ron."
"I prefer Ronald." Luna stroked her kitten. "Do you mind?"
"No." Ron shook his head as he executed his move. "Not at all. You call me whatever you want."
If he were to be honest, Ron would have admitted that he secretly liked the fact that Luna called him Ronald instead of Ron. When he was younger, he'd hated his name because of how funny it had sounded (especially because Fred and George would call him so just to get on his last nerve), but when Luna said it, it sounded like a name that he was actually proud of having.
"As can you." Luna took a treat from the box that he offered once more.
Ron was about to ask her if she had any other names, but decided to ask her something else that had been on his mind since he'd realized whom she was on the train. "What made you decide to get a tattoo and colour your hair black?"
Luna eyed the board while answering him. "My mother always said that I'd be beautiful with black hair, especially because of my eyes."
Ron nodded understanding what she'd meant. He could tell that though her mother was deceased, that she still held a very special place in Luna's heart. She didn't look dazed whenever she spoke of her, but rather serious, which was so unlike Luna.
"And the tattoo?"
"It means 'love'." Luna moved her knight forward and looked up at Ron. "I think that I'm in love."
Ron, who was about to move his own knight, dropped it on the board, causing Crookshanks to look up and eye the pieces almost hungrily. "You're w-what?"
Luna smiled her usual dream-like smile, but Ron could see in her eyes that she was very serious. "I said that I think that I'm in love."
"You, you think?" Ron swallowed. He didn't know why, maybe it was the nearby fire that was causing it, but he was suddenly hot and felt as if he needed a drink of water to cool himself.
Luna nodded. "I haven't quite figured out whether I am or not, but I believe that I soon will."
Ron nodded and stood about to go and get himself some water from the pitcher that sat on a small end table. "I thought that that was what you'd said."
He drank the water in one large gulp and was about to pour himself a second glass when Luna appeared by his side, having abandoned both the game and her kitten (who, along with Crookshanks, were currently eating away at the box of Honeyduke sweets).
Ron almost dropped the cup, but his quick reflexes rescued it before it hit the floor. "Did you want some, Luna?"
Luna shook her head. "Yes. I wanted to know if you'd like to have breakfast with me tomorrow."
"Breakfast?" He repeated.
"At the Ravenclaw table."
"You mean, like a-like a date?" Ron held unto his cup almost as if his life were depending on it.
Luna nodded. "Yes. A breakfast date."
Ron shakily placed the cup down on the table and stood straighter as he registered what Luna had just said. "So the person that you might be in love with, is-is me?"
"Yes."
He nodded not really knowing what else to do or say.
"So does that mean that you'll have breakfast with me?" Luna asked.
Ron found himself nodding again. "Yes."
Luna smiled. "Then I'll see you at breakfast."
She walked over to the spot that they had abandoned and picked up her kitten. Ron found his legs and walked over as well. He figured that he should at least walk her to the entrance. She had after all, just told him that she might be in love with him; things like that didn't happen everyday to Ron Weasley.
They got outside of the portrait hole and Ron found that he was walking with her to wherever it was that Ravenclaw was located. By the time that they got there, Ron couldn't figure out how he'd possibly get back, all he could think of was look on Luna's face as she turned towards him.
"Goodnight, Ronald."
Ron's lips formed into a goodbye, but they never made it, as Luna's lips brushed gently against his.
Now he knew that he really needed water.
"Goodnight, Luna." He watched, with a rather dazed look on his own face, as Luna waved before disappearing inside the Ravenclaw common room.
The woman in the portrait smiled sweetly at Ron and he smiled back almost embarrassed before turning and walking away. Somehow, he made it back down to the Entrance Hall, in time for the doors to open and his friends to arrive with their brooms in hand.
"Are you okay, Ron?" Alexandria, who was the first to spot him, asked.
Ginny giggled almost knowingly before tugging on Beau's robes and the two walked away. Jaida, figuring that Ron wanted to speak with Harry privately, told Alexandria that she needed to retrieve what she'd left on Beau's bed and asked her to follow. Soon it was just Harry and Ron standing in the Entrance Hall.
"Ron what's wrong?" Harry asked concerned.
Ron, realizing where he was and what was happening, snapped back to reality. "Nothing really."
"Then why that look on your face?" Harry frowned.
"Oh," Ron said as if it were nothing. "Luna just kissed me."
"She did?" Harry smiled sneakily. Ron began to wonder if he were the only one that was oblivious to the fact that Luna had in fact liked him.
"Yes, and she also told me that she might love me."
That one caught Harry off guard and he stopped in his tracks. "What?"
"We were playing Wizard Chess when I asked about her tattoo. She told me that she got it because she might be in love and then after she asked me out, she told me that the person was me."
"She asked you out?" Harry asked.
Ron nodded. "To breakfast tomorrow at the Ravenclaw table."
"Wow," Harry said after a while. "I think that you've got your first date tomorrow with Luna Lovegood."
"I think so too." Ron replied.
This time however, he was smiling.
*
It wasn't supposed to be this way...
That was the thought that was running through Hermione's mind as she lay in her bed, curtains drawn to block out the others. It was a little after eleven, and she'd just returned to the Gryffindor tower after being thrown out of the library by Madame Pince.
She'd been hoping to return to the common room after midnight when she was sure that Harry and Ron had retired to bed, but she'd had no such luck. Both had been up talking in hushed tones as they played a late game of chess. Normally, Hermione would have scolded them for opting to play a game instead of doing the homework that she knew that they were allowing to pile up. But things between them were anything but normal, and so instead of scolding them, she simply walked past them and climbed the stairs that led to her dorm room.
Tears escaped her brown eyes and Hermione made absolutely no effort to wipe them away as she recalled the scene that had taken place not even fifteen minutes ago. The boys hadn't even acknowledged the fact that she'd entered the common room. So engrossed in their conversation were they, that they didn't even give her the slightest glance as she crossed the room and made her way up the stairs.
This situation was exactly what she'd feared ever since the end of third year when she'd noticed that Harry had taken to admiring Cho Chang whenever he'd thought that no one would see. The boys had become interested in girls, and now that they had entered this phase in their lives, the need for her friendship no longer mattered.
As the realization dawned upon her, more tears ran down her pale face and a soft hiccup could be heard coming from behind her curtains. Rolling unto her side, she now faced one of the girls that were responsible for the sudden change in her friendship with the two and a scowl immediately formed upon her pink lips.
Alexandria Megghross. Just hearing the first syllable of the Parisian's name made her cringe. Ever since she had stepped up from behind Professor McGonagall at the Welcoming Feast, her entire world had been turned upside down. With her angelic smile and wide blue eyes, she had won the attention of every boy in the Great Hall. But it was a particular boy that would eventually win her over, and he just happened to be one of her best friends, or was he still?
Hermione had seen the way Harry had watched the girl throughout dinner, but she had played it off hoping that things would smooth over the way that they had with Cho. But no, fate was to be once again cruel to her, and it was quite obvious that Harry had no intentions of letting this one get away. No one else knew this, not even Ginny, the only female that she was close to, but Hermione liked Harry, and it wasn't the casual crush either, she was in love, and had been for almost two years.
At first she had been confused, and had thought that Ron was the one that she really liked, but after sitting down and analyzing the situation, she realized shortly after the Yule Ball that she couldn't really like him, if anything, they were completely incompatible. The two of them were too stubborn to ever let the other have their way in the relationship, and so if they had survived, they would be one of those couples that were constantly breaking up with each other, only to return to each other's arms shortly after. She knew that she didn't want a relationship like that. So she allowed her tiny crush on Ron to fade away, and once again focused on her work.
But then something happened that she'd neither planned, nor expected, she found herself developing feelings for Harry. And this time, she tried her hardest to squash those feelings without even analyzing the situation. Guys like Harry never looked at girls like her. Sure they were best friends, but she knew that he would never see her as anything but. And she was right, his little obsession with Cho had proved that, and so she played the role of a supportive friend and pretended not to care when she saw him giving her glances, even though she was currently dating Cedric Diggory.
And then the third task came and things changed. After Harry and Cedric had failed to come out of the maze, horrible images began to flash through her mind and Hermione found herself on the brink of tears. Thankfully for her, the others were too preoccupied with their own thoughts to even notice the tears that fell from her eyes and were easily concealed by her bushy hair. That was the day when she realized that she'd moved on from the level of a simple crush to care deeply about Harry. A year later when she was once again faced with the Harry/Cho situation, she once again feigned apathy and offered him advice, thinking to herself that even if he couldn't have her, then at least he'd be happy.
Despite all this, she couldn't help but fall in love with him, and she realized this when she almost lost Harry once again in the Department Of Mysteries. She'd made up her mind to tell him then, but Sirius' death had changed all of that. She knew that she couldn't possibly add to his torment then, and so had decided to lay it off until the new school year when hopefully Harry would be better able to cope with his confession. But a girl that was even more beautiful than Cho once again beat her to him, and this time. It simply wasn't fair!
As for Ron and Luna, she couldn't care less. She was quite happy that Ron had found someone that could add balance to his unstable character.
And so here she was, completely alone and feeling worthless as she cried herself to sleep that night.
Being in love, especially when it was unrequited, was no joy ride. She'd imagined that when she finally fell in love that the person would be sweet and caring and that he would love her back. But this kind of love was anything but. It felt as if a knife had stabbed at her heart and was being turned painfully slow. And no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get it out.
In her dreams, she'd imagined Harry as that sweet and understanding person. And in reality, he really was. He just wasn't capable of being that kind of person when it came to her.
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