Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 7: Time in the Library

Harry awoke the next morning feeling rested… a rare token considering what he'd gone through for almost the entire previous year. Before he swung out of bed, he glanced over at Ron's four-poster and found it empty - another rarity. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 7:54 in the morning.

Curious as to where Ron would go at such a time, Harry stood up and entered the bathroom. He showered quickly and, upon looking at the considerable amount of scruff covering his face, did a simple hair-removal spell. He would have rather liked to have his hair cut (for once in his life), but decided against it, as he had no experience whatsoever in this area. With his luck he'd end up butchering it.

After dressing in jeans and a T-shirt, Harry snatched up his wand and exited the dormitory. Upon entering the common room, he saw that it was completely empty. Not that he was particularly surprised. He was sure that most of the Weasleys were in no rush to get up, and if anyone had awoken, Harry assumed they would be down in the Great Hall having breakfast.

Sadly, no one was in the Great Hall, either. Harry sat down at one of the ten place settings situated on the table and was immediately rewarded with a bowl of oatmeal. In no way belligerent over the somewhat meager meal, Harry ate his breakfast slowly, expecting that someone would eventually join him. When no one showed after twenty minutes, he dropped his spoon into his bowl and left the table.

Harry came sullenly out of the Great Hall began to walk slowly up the stairs, hoping he'd eventually run into someone. He then continued down a corridor, not paying any special attention to where he was going as he stared down at his feet. When he finally did glance up, Harry found himself in front of the library, the doors closed. He found this in no way peculiar, as he assumed Madam Pince would have left with the other teachers.

But as he turned around to walk back down the hallway, he heard a loud thump coming from within the library. Curious, Harry slipped his wand from his pocket and pushed the door, which swung inward easily.

The library looked empty, and Harry felt a twinge of sadness. He had been in here alone before, but usually at night when it was forbidden to be there and in full knowledge that it would be filled with students the next day. Now, with the drapes drawn over the windows and no students milling around the bookcases, it felt abandoned. The only light source came from the sunlit corridor he had just left, and the shafts of gold illuminated the dust particles floating through the air.

Suddenly another thump sliced through the thick silence that surrounded him. Harry's eyes darted in the direction from which he heard the noise and realized that there was another light permeating the darkness from behind a row of bookcases. A much smaller, weaker light, which was most likely coming from a candle. Though he was not worried, Harry still kept his wand drawn. Constant vigilance. This was a lesson from Mad-Eye that he would not soon forget.

Harry finally reached the final bookcase in the row and stepped around the corner... and saw no one. Puzzled, he took a few steps forward and suddenly went tumbling to the ground.

Momentarily stunned but still holding his wand at the ready, Harry jerked his head from left to right, searching for his attacker. Instead he saw Hermione in a heap on the floor, her lit wand beside her, looking just as dazed as he felt.

"Hermione?" Harry said, finally lowering his wand. "What are you doing here?"

"Harry, you do realize this is the library, right?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course I realize that. I meant what are you doing on the ground."

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face and a gleam appearing in her eyes. "I was just picking up some books I had dropped!" She motioned around her, where at least a dozen large books coated the floor.

"You seem pretty pleased with your clumsiness."

"Not my clumsiness! Madam Pince isn't around! No one at all is around! Do you know what that means!?"

Harry did not respond, as he was sure Hermione would continue regardless of anything he did or didn't say.

"It means that I have the library to myself! No one looking over my shoulder, no students giggling at the tables. Nothing at all! Just books!!" Hermione squealed enthusiastically.

"Er…that's great, I guess…" Harry trailed off, not knowing how to respond to her less than sane eagerness. He decided to change the subject. "How did all of these books fall, anyway? Did you trip or something?"

Only now did Hermione blush slightly. "Well…I didn't exactly take the time to light any candles or anything."

"You were that excited? You couldn't even get one candle?"

Hermione glared at him. "Let me put it in terms you would understand. How would you feel if, say, there was a speed limit on how fast you could ride your broom? I'd bet you'd be pretty thrilled if you walked out to the Quidditch pitch one day and no one was around to stop you from flying as fast as you wanted!"

"Okay, okay, I get it" Harry shrugged. "You're strange."

Hermione snorted derisively. "Excuse me, you're the one that enjoys sitting on a stick at heights of at least fifty feet with various balls and players rocketing at you from every direction. I don't believe I'm the strange one in this situation."

Harry had to accede to this fact. "Fine, how about we call it a truce? We're both strange," he said, finally standing up from the pile of books he had been sitting on.

"Deal," she said, struggling to her own feet and dusting herself off. "Could you help me with these books?"

"Sure." Harry and Hermione promptly knelt down and began collecting all of the books, piling them under their arms until they had all been picked up. Hoisting her stack more securely in her arms, Hermione then led Harry to a small table towards the middle of the library, where they immediately placed the large volumes.

"Why'd you pick out so many books?" Harry asked as Hermione scurried to a window. "It's not like you can read them all right now. You can always come back."

The room was suddenly flooded with light as Hermione drew back the heavy drapes. "Well, I didn't want to forget any of the titles." Hermione explained when she returned. "Plus, I might not care for some of the books."

"Fat chance there."

Hermione did not respond, instead choosing to seat herself at the table and slide the largest book toward her. "You don't have to wait around. I know there are loads of other things you'd rather be doing."

"Not really," Harry said with a shrug. "No one's here. Where are the Weasleys, anyway?"

Hermione frowned sadly. "They…er…they sort of had to go make… well, arrangements for Fred."

"Oh." Harry felt the too familiar lump rise in his throat and chose not to press the subject. He didn't care to think about funerals yet. He remained silent as Hermione opened her book tentatively and began to pore over its beginning pages.

As he watched Hermione read, Harry's mind drifted to Ginny. He felt extremely guilty about not spending any time with her since the battle had occurred. Since he had started the Horcrux hunt, really. However, he knew there wasn't much he could do even if he did spend time with her. In the days after Sirius died, he had not felt any desire to speak to anyone about it. He didn't mind having company, but he also wanted his space. Harry felt that Ginny would have similar sentiments, at least at first.

Harry was also curious about where they stood in their relationship. Were they still boyfriend and girlfriend, at least in a sense? They had sort of broken up, but did that mean that they wouldn't continue their relationship from where they left it? Starting to feel a bit nervous, he asked Hermione just this.

Hermione appeared to contemplate this for a view moments, frowning, as she marked her place in her book. "Well," she said slowly as she shut the tome, "I would guess she hasn't dated anyone else. After all, the war started right after you broke it off. She wouldn't have had any opportunity to date even if she'd wanted to." When Harry looked slightly stricken, she added hastily, "Which I'm sure she didn't. Anyway, I don't think Ginny had plans of being broken up for good." Hermione smirked slightly, and gave Harry a very un-Hermione-like wink. "Especially not after that kiss last summer."

Harry knew she was referring to the kiss he had received on his birthday and heat crept up his neck. "See, you're not the only one who can tease." Hermione opened her book once more and began to read. "Though I would get going on make some sort of move before she gets mad," she said without looking up. "If she isn't already livid." Harry gulped as a glimpse of something that looked eerily like a bat flashed across his mind. "Yeah, I probably should."

Document created with wvWare/wvWare version 1.2.7

-->