Hi guys, thanks again for all of your reviews. I appreciate the fact that quite a few of you didn't like the last chapter, and only hope this one will go down better! We'll see though…
By the way, it follows on immediately from Chapter 3.
Disclaimer: J.K. is the genius, Harry and co. are hers.
Niffling
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Hermione remembered striding to one of the small rooms off the main bathroom after throwing her finishing remark at Harry. It had taken her a while to realise she was in what was sometimes used as a steam room, and she numbly lay herself across one of the wooden benches. She'd felt like she was in some kind of daze, and had drifted to sleep surprisingly quickly. She had thought that she would never be able to sleep again, but her physical exhaustion had got the better of her, and she woke a few hours later, shivering in the cold room.
Slowly getting to her feet, Hermione had cautiously opened the door of the steam room to glance around the main bathroom, only to find it now deserted. As she had made to move towards the door, Hermione's feet found something soft and warm on the floor. It was Harry's cloak, folded out in front of the steam room.
Even as she considered leaving the cloak there, letting this act of kindness slip by her, Hermione's intellect had got the better of her - being caught out of bed at this time would only land her in trouble she didn't need. The cloak had bought instant warmth to her, and she'd made her way up to Griffindor Tower with no problems.
Now, she stood at the window in her dorm, freshly changed into a thick pair of pjs and held an open letter in her hand.
Hermione,
Darling, we know there should be a better way of telling you this, but this is the quickest. Your grandmother has died. We're not sure what happened yet, the doctors can't be sure of the cause of death. We have asked your headmaster if you can come home for a while, we think it would be better if you were with the family for a bit. We'll be there at 7am to get you.
All our love,
Mum and Dad
For the first time in days, Hermione wanted to cry but couldn't.
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Harry made his way rapidly to the Room of Requirement, and after striding up and down outside several times, opened the door. A startlingly grand bedroom had suddenly appeared.
At one end of the room there was a king sized bed with white silken sheets draped over it, strewn with scarlet rose petals. The other end of the room was what appeared to be a wall sized window, looking out into the night sky that twinkled with stars. The wall had obviously been temporarily enchanted with the same charm as the Great Hall ceiling, and was mimicking the outdoors.
As Harry looked around the room taking in the flowers, chocolates and champagne, he growled angrily and slammed the Room of Requirement door with a bang.
This time, marching back and forth in front of the entrance, Harry thought not of what he wanted, but what he felt like he needed right now. This time, as the door swung open, he sighed in relief as PlayStations and Nintendo games galore filled the room. It was a lot smaller than it had been just moments earlier, but the sight was much less painful for Harry now, and he slipped into the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
He crashed down onto a bean bag that was handily set squarely in front of the large T.V. screen, and had all of the remotes in reach. Harry flicked on the television, idly wondering how it worked and whether it was a real television or if special enchantments had had to be put in place for it to work despite the high levels of magic surrounding it. A soap seemed to be in mid flow, and Harry relaxed as two burly men squared up to each other and began throwing threats back and forth. He was bought back down to earth when the next scene came on, and a couple lay in bed, happily wrapped round each other and looking very pleased with themselves. Harry's insides squirmed as he thought of Hermione, and he quickly switched to the games consoles, and spent the night shooting zombies and monsters, trying to ward off any thoughts of Hermione.
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Harry groggily woke up and, looking around him, wondered where he was and why he felt so bad. It all came rushing back to him as he saw the empty Butterbeer bottles in front of him and the bachelor pad style of the room he was in. Groaning as he sat up, he glanced at a clock on the wall and swore heavily as he realised he was going to be late for his first class.
He jumped up, and by opening the random doors that he didn't appear to remember from last night, Harry managed to find a shower and wardrobe, and hastily prepared himself for the day ahead. It was only as he was about to leave that Harry realised his first lesson was Potions, and he groaned once more as he realised he would have to try and deal with Snape and Hermione, as well as dealing with a splitting headache.
Finally Harry arrived, out of breath, outside the dungeon, and took a moment to compose himself before entering Snape's lair with caution.
"Potter, you're late," a voice observed harshly, but Harry nearly laughed out loud with relief as Professor McGonagall's voice greeted him rather than the oily tones of Snape.
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, Potter!" McGonagall warned him as if reading his mind, "just because Professor Snape is unavailable today does not mean he won't hear about this. Take your seat."
Harry tried to make his face appear less jovial, and sat down next to Ron. After looking around the rest of the class he found himself strangely disappointed to not see any sign of Hermione. He had got used to being grateful when she wasn't in the same class, but not having her there felt strange.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry whispered to Ron, hoping he knew where their friend was.
"Oh mate," Ron replied in a serious tone, "one of her relatives died, they didn't know the cause of death apparently… anyway she went home for a bit, be with family, y'know…" Ron trailed off, looking troubled.
Harry felt like he'd just been slapped in the face; Hermione's family? How could this happen? It was his fault; he knew it, his fault for being close to Hermione and bringing attention from Voldemort's Death Eater gang. Harry's head gave another violent burst of pain which he couldn't distinguish between a Voldemort link or his hangover, and Harry swore at himself for being so stupid to have let this happen.
Harry was about to stand to leave when he suddenly realised everyone else was doing the same, and the lesson had ended. He'd obviously overslept more than he thought. As he stood, a wave of giddiness swept over him and for a moment he couldn't see for the stars flashing in front of his eyes. He fell back into his seat, breathing heavily, trying to clear his head.
"Potter?" McGonagall's voice came to him, and Harry looked up into her concerned face. "Goodness whatever's the matter with you? You're as pale as a ghost! I think you'd better have the rest of the day off, you've missed half of it anyway. I'll inform your teachers, off with you!" McGonagall dismissed him, and Harry was grateful for the chance to get back to his bed.
Ron was waiting outside for him, and came over as Harry exited the classroom.
"Sorry about that, thought I'd rush off before she remembered I hadn't handed in my homework!" Ron said cheekily, then, noticing Harry's pale face, asked: "What's up Harry?"
"McGonagall gave me the rest of the day off," Harry said shortly, not wanting to waste time on this small detail. "Look, mate, do you know when Hermione's meant to be back?"
"No… how come? I kinda got the impression you two weren't getting along?" Ron said, surprising Harry who had thought Ron was oblivious to his and Hermione's discomfort. Ron smiled knowingly saying, "I'm not actually as dumb as you think Harry. Well, not all the time," he added with a smirk.
"Yeah… well, she needs us doesn't she?"
"I guess, but I think she needs her family now more mate. Look, I've got to go and speak to Neville about this research work Sprout gave us to do - without Hermione I've got no chance unless I get him. See you later yeah?" Ron said, starting to turn away from Harry, obviously keen to get as much help from Neville as possible.
"Yeah, see you later," Harry replied and made his way up to the Griffindor common room slowly.
As he entered the room he was confronted by the sight of Ginny and Dean wrapped around each other in a tight embrace, kissing passionately. Harry felt himself blush and when they didn't immediately break apart he stepped backwards and then re-entered, making sure to trip his way noisily through the portrait hole.
"Hey Harry!" Dean greeted him smugly, finally breaking apart from Ginny. "I was just about to try and find Neville, you seen him?"
Harry grinned knowingly: "Not sure, but Ron's got the same idea about the homework - maybe they're in the library?"
"Great, thanks. See you later, Gin," Dean said turning back to Ginny and kissing her again before grinning happily at Harry and leaving.
"Hey Harry," Ginny smirked mischievously, "how's it going?!"
"Think I should ask you the same thing!" Harry laughed, "so you and Dean? That's cool, he's a nice guy."
Ginny sobered her face in response to this and looked at Harry carefully before hesitantly speaking.
"You don't mind do you, Harry? I mean, the other night… well, like I said, nothing happened, and I don't really know what that was all about anyway to be honest." She concluded with a confused expression on her face.
"No! No it's cool. Honestly. God, I feel like shit," Harry admitted, throwing himself into one of the squashy chairs in front of the fire and feeling sorry for himself about his banging head.
"What's up?" Ginny asked in a concerned manner, sitting on the seat next to him.
"It's Hermione." Harry blurted suddenly, unable to hold it in any longer.
"O…K…" Ginny replied slowly, "I was kinda expecting you to say a headache or something… but Hermione? Why?"
"One of her grandparents died, didn't you hear?" Harry asked, and then continued without waiting for a reply: "I should be with her; she'd need her friends…"
Friends… As Harry said that word he suddenly realised the extent of what he had done to Hermione. His mind flashed back to when he had kissed her for that first time. At the time he hadn't really realised how it had happened, but now he could remember; remember that they'd been in front of the fire in the evening, both trying to complete separate bits of homework, sat in a comfortable silence as they worked. Harry was beginning to feel bored and his mind wouldn't stay on the task in hand when Hermione had suddenly burst out:
"Oh ffffffffffffffff-FWOOPER!"
Harry looked across her incredulously, a smile beginning to form on his face.
"Fwooper?!" he asked with raised eyebrows.
Hermione looked over at him with a frown that began to melt when she saw the look on his face.
"What?!" she asked innocently, "I was trying not to swear!"
"Yeah, but… fwooper?!" Harry said, beginning to grin.
"It's an African bird! If you listen to its song for too long it can drive you insane!" Hermione explained defensively.
"I think it's driven you insane already, Hermione!" Harry teased and began to laugh. He had reached the point of boredom and exhaustion where you either laugh hysterically or cry, and this time he'd opted for laughing. As he chuckled, the situation became even more hilarious in his head, and as Hermione watched him she began to join in too.
"Fwooper!!" Harry gasped through his laughter, setting the two of them off again and soon they couldn't breathe for their amusement. Hermione leant over to Harry, still in hysterics, and pushed him hard as he closed his eyes in mirth. Harry fell, caught of guard and slid onto the floor with a startled look on his face which only made Hermione laugh all the more. In retaliation Harry grabbed one of her legs and started to pull her off her chair onto the floor with him. She squealed and tried to hold onto the chair, only for him to start tickling the one foot he had got hold of, causing her to go weak with laughter and sink to the floor, landing half on top of him.
They lay there laughing until finally it ran out, and they were left breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath. Hermione had turned herself over slightly, and she had looked down at him underneath her with the laughter still twinkling in her eyes and her face flushed as she sighed happily. She smiled at him, and in that moment Harry suddenly realised how beautiful Hermione was. Her brown eyes echoed the smile on her face, with those perfect white teeth surrounded by her soft pink lips. As he thought just how kissable those lips looked to him, Hermione began to push herself up off the floor. Without even thinking Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back towards him, then rolled her over so that he was on top of her. The smile had spread again on her face as she thought he was continuing their game, and as he looked down at her and began to lean towards her, she lifted her head slightly to meet his lips with hers.
The kiss was like the softness of a rose petal brushing both their lips…
"… and I think her family would rather have her with them at the moment to be honest." Ginny's voice finally permeated Harry's thoughts and he looked up at her, almost as if in a daze. She was looking at him, obviously waiting for him to respond, so he tried to bring his thoughts back to present.
"But I need to talk to her, I need to tell her I'm sorry!" he explained, trying to make her understand.
"Sorry for what?" Ginny asked, confused again.
"Everything!" Harry burst out. He jumped up out of the chair, unable to sit still any longer. His mind was buzzing with thought and his body mimicked them as he paced back and forth with Ginny watching him from where she was sat.
"I've been a prick, Ginny, and I need to apologise to her for that. Now she's even more hurt and it's all my-" Harry stopped, not wanting to the last word aloud, and paced away from Ginny again.
"…Fault?" Ginny asked, shrewdly. "How can it be your fault Harry? You can't hold yourself responsible for everythi-"
"I kissed her Ginny! I kissed her. And I made her think something could happen when it can't."
"Why not?" Ginny asked him, recovering well from the shock of Harry revealing something happened between him and Hermione. "Don't you like her?"
"Of course I like her!" Harry exploded, "I fucking- I like her, yes." Harry said, pacing again, trying to control himself and not end up falling out with Ginny as well.
"So…?"
"So look what's happened, Gin," Harry said turning to her. "Just kissing her has led to one of her grandparent's death!"
Ginny froze, staring at Harry with a look of shock on her face.
"You think it's your fault her grandparent died? You think it's 'cos of you?" Ginny asked, incredulous at Harry.
"Oh c'mon Gin!" Harry said, still pacing, "everyone knows Voldemort's behind this!"
"Oh my God, what did you do to her?" Ginny said, not seeming to have taken in what Harry had just said.
"What?" Harry said, stopping pacing suddenly, confused by what Ginny meant.
Ginny looked up at him again, coming out of her thoughts.
"You think this is your fault? So after you kissed her, what happened then? You said you hurt her…"
Harry looked away from Ginny and squirmed under her piercing gaze.
"What did you do, Harry?" Ginny demanded, raising her voice.
"I sort of… stopped… talking… to… her…" Harry admitted quietly, blushing slightly.
"YOU WHAT?" Ginny exploded, erupting out of her chair and grabbing Harry by the arms, shaking him until he looked at her.
"I stopped talking to her OK?"
"Why??" Ginny asked, looking at Harry in disbelief.
"Because I was afraid this would happen!" Harry burst out, pulling himself away from Ginny, and pacing away to the window. He hadn't realised until he'd said it that it was true. He had pushed Hermione away because he was afraid of her getting hurt, because he knew from bitter experience that those closest to him were the ones in most danger, and he couldn't bear to be responsible for Hermione getting harmed, couldn't bear to imagine her having to deal with something so hard it would take away something from the vibrant person she was now.
Harry heard Ginny sigh behind him, and then quietly say:
"And did you explain any of this to her Harry? Or did you just make her think you hated her?"
Harry turned back towards her again, and as he met her eyes he whispered softly:
"Oh Gin, what have I done?"