Disclaimer: Characters and setting and what not belong to J. K. Rowling.

Author Note: Hi whoever decides to read this. I hope you like it. It's my first fanfiction. I've tried to keep everyone mostly in character. Although Draco and Harry not as much. Please, please review. Critical feedback is very much appreciated. Particularly could you all let me know what I can do in general to make the characters as believable as possible and tell me if I'm trying too hard at anything and any pointers you have. Also positive feedback is wonderful. Ah yes so here it begins.

Chapter 1

Harry woke up to thin beams of sunshine filtering in through the window. As he tried to blink away his dreams and morning haze, he noticed the tapping that had woken him up in the first place. An eagle owl was at his window. He opened the window quietly and took the letter attached to the owl's leg. Just as quietly, he unfolded it, read it, and looked around. Then he brushed out of his dorm, through the common room and out into the castle, turning quickly down a side corridor and up a small flight of stairs.

***

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the rest of the school began to wake up and go to breakfast. Ron sneezed and rolled out of bed. He rubbed his head and looked up sheepishly, expecting Harry to be laughing at him. Instead, he was met with the mocking smiles of Seamus and Dean. Neville was peering at him apologetically. Ron tried to get up but instead sneezed again.
"You alright mate?" Dean asked. He offered Ron a hand up.
"Yeah I'm fine. Anyone seen Harry?" Ron asked. They all shook their heads. "That's funny... I wonder where he is. He's been getting up earlier lately and-" Ron interrupted himself with another sneeze.
"You should stay in bed today Ron," Neville implored solemnly, before heading down to breakfast.
"Aw poor Ronald is siiiiccckkk and needs to stay in beeed. Should we owl for his mum Dean?" Seamus joked. Ron glared at them.
"'Ey fuck you, yeah?" He stalked out of the room and to the showers. Dean and Seamus laughed and followed Neville down to breakfast.
In the Great Hall, Hermione craned her neck to look for Harry. Ron, she knew, would not be down for several more minutes. He had been waking up later this year. He was finally getting more serious about his school work. But he still procrastinated for a large part of the night and thus had been staying up until late hours trying to finish things. Harry however, usually came down to breakfast just a little after Hermione. A few minutes later Ron came in, somewhat staggering Hermione noticed. As he sat down at the table it became apparent that his nose and eyes were slightly pink.
"Ron, are you alright?" You look like you've been crying," Hermione said. The rest of Ron's face turned very pink and Dean could be heard from slightly down the table saying, "Poor Ronnie was up all night crying because his boyfriend dumped him." Everyone around them laughed and missed the slightly confused look that Seamus shot at Dean.
"I'm sick, alright?" Ron mumbled, as the laughter subsided. Hermione made a nonspecific but sympathetic noise and began to read the issue of the Daily Prophet, which had just been dropped next to her bowl of cereal. "Anything interesting?" Ron asked.
"Well, there is this article about a new discovery in the field of combined arcane herbology and cryptology in which-" Ron sneezed yet again. "My goodness Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "Perhaps you should-"
"Don't. Say. Anything." Ron shot a nervous glance toward Dean, who simply grinned innocently at Ron and then turned back to his conversation with Seamus and Lavender.

***

The first class of the day was Charms. Ron and Hermione walked in with Neville, who had failed to realize that their twenty four inch paper on the different uses of the Artollo charm was due that day. As a mass of other students trickled in, Harry emerged from among the throng and took his seat next to Ron.
"Hullo mate," Ron said cheerfully. He had forgotten about Harry's absence that morning. Hermione was about to ask where Harry had been during breakfast when Harry jovially patted Ron on the shoulder and remarked, "So Ronnie, I heard your boyfriend dumped you last night. Do you think you're gonna be okay?" He made puppy dog eyes at Ron, who merely grimaced.
"Ah yes, Harry has gotten the news Ron," Dean called from a desk behind them. "We want to let you know that all of us are offering our most sincere emotional support to you in this time of need." Hermione shook her head.
"And what's so funny about a boy having a boyfriend. Dean?" She directed her question at Dean, looking him hard in the eyes. Seamus gave Hermione a small smile over Dean's shoulder. Ron looked ready to back up Hermione and Harry sat back impassively.
"Well I suppose..." Dean trailed off. "Fair enough Hermione. You've put me in my place." He smiled warmly at her. A tiny noise of a throat clearing could be heard at the front of the classroom. They turned their attention to Professor Flitwick, who had just stepped onto his stack of books and was about to address the class. Harry laughed to himself imperceptibly.
Down near the front of the room, a certain Draco Malfoy was sharing in this imperceptible laugh. Crabbe and Goyle had not noticed his absence at breakfast that morning at all.