A/N: I haven't actually updated the story, just the discription. Unfortunetly that didn't leave enough space for all the lawyer stuff so I had to move it to here. So here goes: I don't own Harry Potter, that distinction belongs to the very talented J. K. Rowling. While here I've also made a few grammar corrections that slipped past my proff reading and the online grammer check. Thanks to my outstanding beta Barb (who in fairness didn't see the document until it was published). Now without futher ado I present for your reading pleasure,
Naps Are Terrible
The Gryffindor common room was dimly lit and nearly deserted as Harry poured himself into the sofa in front of the fireplace. From the time his alarm had sounded until this very moment it seemed his day had been a near disaster. The previous night had delivered fitful sleep and new dreams about the Department of Mysteries. As a groggy Harry slid from his bed he heard the unmistakable sound of his glasses crunching under his feet. They were fixed easy enough with a quick Oculus Reparo; however the tone of the day had been set.
At breakfast he somehow managed to pour half a pitcher of pumpkin juice down the front of his robes and had barely managed to run back to his room, change, and make it to potions in time for the start of class. Professor Snape had, of course, been his usual smug, conceited, insufferable self, taking every opportunity to goad Harry into some form of misconduct. He had even gone so far as to intentionally drop a pinch of powdered asphodel root into Harry's cauldron, ruining what up to that point had been an acceptable draught of peace. The greasy haired potions master had then looked directly at him, his lips twitching in a smug sneer, as if daring Harry to protest his actions.
The day's next stop was Herbology where he was faced with the task of pruning a self-fertilizing shrub. A simple enough task on the surface, that is until he accidentally snipped one branch a little to close to the plants base and a blast of odorous, greasy, brown fluid sprayed into his face. Reflexively jumping back, Harry placed his hand into a flat of fanged geraniums and received several nasty bites, necessitating a shower, another change of clothes and a trip to the Hospital Wing.
Opting to skip lunch, Harry returned to the common room and stretched out on the very sofa he now occupied; hoping that taking a short nap would reverse the course the day seemed to have set him upon. In the merest of moments the relaxing comfort created by the chairs ample stuffing and well worn leather upholstery had done the trick and he dozed off into a shallow, rejuvenating sleep. That was until a group of giggling third year girls returned from lunch. Unaware that Harry was stretched out on the couch, one of them, a girl with long dark hair named Romilda Vane leaped over the back of the chair, landing on a very sensitive portion of his anatomy. Ripped from his slumber, Harry bellowed a mix of painful cries and profanities as his legs curled upward and his hands shot downward, entangling Romilda and pushing her harder against him. After a few moments awkward shuffling they managed to extricate themselves from one another and Romilda found herself lying on the floor looking up at Harry as he lay on his side trying to regain his breath. Apologizing profusely she raised herself to her knees and reached out her hand, much as one would when trying to help a friend whose arm had been injured. Harry quickly moved to intercept Romilda's hand and assured her that he would be fine. He couldn't help noticing that she had rather nice dark brown eyes and briefly considered she might be worth remembering if things didn't work out with Cho. She was after all only two years younger then he.
With the afternoon classes about to start, Harry joined Ron and Hermione for the trek back down the stairs to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. As was always the case the self promoting, pompous, toad faced, Professor Umbridge fluttered on about basic defensive theory that even a first year would have found repetitive and boring. Her classes had actually come to the point were Harry would have preferred to listen to Professor Binns drone on about goblin rebellions then endure what once had been his favorite subject. Only by constantly reminding himself that the D.A. was meeting later in the evening did he manage to remain quiet and avoid any new detentions.
Harry's final class of the day was Care of magical creatures. It had never numbered as one of his favorites, but he enjoyed spending time with Hagrid, even though the normally jocular half giant had become somewhat subdued since returning from his mission to talk with the giants and being placed on probation. Today's class seemed to be off to a promising start, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the clearing on the edge of the forbidden forest to find a magically transplanted oak tree surrounded by a cage and filled with small, green skinned, monkey like creatures. Hagrid started the class by explaining that they were clabberts, native to the Atlantic coast of North America and that this troop had been brought into the country by special permission of the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures herself. Harry couldn't help wondering if this was because the Ministry wished for the students to study clabberts, or because Hagrid's being on probation meant he was attempting to do things by the books. Removing the creatures from the cage one at a time, Hagrid distributed them among the students. This was going well, with groups of four or five students getting one clabbert among them. It was going well that is, until one of the creatures was presented to Malfoy's group. The red pustule on the clabbert's forehead immediately started flashing red, indicating danger, and it let loose with an ear piercing scream before running off into the forest. The commotion agitated the entire troop and three more managed to escape from the startled students. Quickly gathering the remaining animals, Hagrid returned them to the cage before dismissing the class and running off in pursuit of the others.
Finding themselves with more time before dinner than originally expected Harry joined a group of his fellow students for a walk by the lake. The day's bad luck once again found its victim. This time however it was Ron who suffered the misfortune when he stumbled and found himself sitting in the frigid water. A laughing Harry helped his friend up and, along with Hermione, assisted him in applying drying charms to his clothing, before the trio returned to the castle.
Taking advantage of the two hours between dinner and the DA meeting Harry sat in an overstuffed chair reading his charms text. Without intending to he soon drifted off to his second nap of the day. An hour later he was awaken by Ginny, who greeted him with a smile and an extened arm to help him from the chair. Harry returned her smile and took her hand just as Ron pushed his chair back from the table next to Harry's chair. Ron's chair bumped into Ginny, sent her spilling into Harry and caused them to bump heads. With a hand on her forehead, she spun on his lap and offered her brother a few choice words before lifting herself off of Harry and once again offering to help him up. For his part Harry also had a comment or two to share with his friend, many invoking the first great wizard in English history.
The DA meeting went well enough; tonight's lesson had focused on Stupefy and other stunning spells. As he always did, Harry moved from student to student helping them with their form and incantations. As he stood behind Luna, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her elbow, showing her the proper arm positioning she seemed to wiggle her backside against him. Attempting to maintain a professional demeanor Harry dismissed it as an accident caused by the necessary closeness required to demonstrate the proper technique. He did, however, notice that both Cho and Ginny had observed the occurrence and both seemed to be less then pleased by what they had seen. Cho's reaction he understood, but Ginny's he found both slightly surprising and mildly interesting. At the meeting's conclusion, Harry and Cho tried to discreetly make their way to the far corning of the room as the others departed. Hermione was her usual helpful self, and managed to move both Ron and Ginny on with minimal delay. Luna however seemed determined to wait for Cho and steadfastly refused to move from her spot by the door. Finally giving up on having any time alone, Cho and Harry said goodnight and departed for their respective towers.
That brought him back to the present and his spot on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Opting not to lay down Harry instead wedged himself between the arm and the back of the chair, leaned his head back and once more drifted off into the land of naps. Slightly more than an hour later he awoke to find Hermione sleeping with her head on his lap. Not really sure how or why this had happened, but guessing she must have sat down to read and fallen asleep herself, he decided not to disturb her. Gently removing himself from the chair, Harry slid a pillow under Hermione's head and departed for his own room.
There are those who would say taking a nap is a good thing, allowing both body and mind to reinvigorate themselves. However, as Harry lay on his bed, staring at the canopy draped over his head, he found that he was now unable to fall asleep. His mind drifted through thoughts of a squirming Romilda entangled in his arms, of Ginny sitting on his lap, of Luna brushing against him, of not being able to find time alone with Cho and what could have happened if he had, and lastly of Hermione sleeping with her head on his lap. Yes, as far as Harry was concerned, naps were terrible things.