Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, they all belong to the wonderful JK Rowling and I only influence what they do in this story...
Summary: Harry is grieving Sirius' death and he is distancing himself from those around him because it feels easier for him to blame them than himself. Madame Hooch retires, so a student flying teacher transfers to Hogwarts, much to Ron's distaste.
Harry Potter and The Mystery of Love
Chapter 1 - Everchanging Blame
Hermione's eyelids shot open as she lay in her bed revealing panicked, alert brown eyes, Harry's face had haunted her dreams again, and the fact that he hadn't replied to her letters was starting, no matter how hard she tried to conceal it from Ron, to worry her. She had written him three times over the holidays, and not a single letter had been answered, the fact still remained that Voldermort was out there after Harry and behind her cool posture, she couldn't help but think that maybe Dumbledore was wrong, and Harry was in danger just as he had been the previous year.
She turned on the bedside lamp and sighed heavily as Ginny awoke, majorly annoyed at the disturbance from her sleep. "Hermione! Turn the bloo-"
"Shh..." Hermione put a finger to her lips and pulled her friend closer to her. "Where's Pig...?" She yawned. "I need to send a letter."
"Dammit Hermione! It's like..." She looked at the watch on her wrist and laughed slowly. "The stupid muggle thing has stopped. Anyway... it's late, send Pig with your message in the morning, he's in Ron's room."
Hermione turned off the light reluctantly, and with no intention of falling back to sleep, she lay awake until Ginny's soft snores filled the room once more.
She had been at the Weasley's house since earlier that week because her parents had gone away to Greece for the summer and she hadn't been invited, not that she minded, the rest of the summer at the Burrow would be great, if it wasn't for the goose pimples at the back of her neck telling her to check up on Harry.
She quietly swung her legs out from under her and pulled back the bed cover, walking silently to the door and out onto the moonlit corridor, she looked at her wrist watch and the time shone out, illuminating her way up the small staircase to Ron's bedroom. It was 2:17. Reaching the heavy wooden door, she let herself into Ron's room, only to find him laying on his bed, eyes wide open with the light on.
"Ron."
He jumped slightly and looked at Hermione, "'Mione! You made me jump... I...I had a weird dream."
Hermione sat down next to him. "Was it Harry?" and when he nodded she sighed deeply. "We need to get a message to Dumbledore. Where's Pig?"
----
On the second floor of the Dursley's house on Privet Drive, Harry Potter stood facing the bathroom mirror, his hair even more tousled than usual and his emerald eyes, red and puffy from fatigue and tears. He splashed the cold water running from the sink onto his face and walked, more cautiously than ever before, back to his 'room'.
He had received letters from his friends almost everyday since the holiday began, but had not read a single one, they lay in a pile on his dresser, untouched since whichever owl it was had brought them to him. He didn't have the energy or the heart to read about the great time Ron and Hermione were having while although they had been suprisingly nice to him this holiday, the Dursley's kept him locked away in the house, with nothing to do but remember Sirius.
He sat down on his bed and sighed slowly, looking through the things he had in his trunk, his invisibility cloak, marauders map, and of course, the one mirror which Sirius ahd given Harry for christmas. He had tried, almost every single night since his god father fell through the veil, to see his face in the mirror, but it was never to be and all he ever saw was his own reflection, the reflection of a skinny, tall young man with tangled black hair and his mother's dark green eyes.
Hedwig sat in her cage, bored from the lack of delivering she seemed to be doing, and annoyed at Harry for making her stay indoors for so long.She hooted impatiently and Harry looked straight at her and told her to "Shut up!".
----
"They're worried about Potter." Alistor Moody growled to Albus Dumbledore as Pig flew in through the window of his office. "And they're right to be. What's the matter with him, doesn't he know that they'll be worried?"
Dumbledore smiled. "I don't think he cares Alistor. He has lost someone very close to him..." Dumbledore stroked Fawke's back and looked straight into Moody's magic eye. "Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley are good friends of his, and I expect that they're worried about the absence of replies from their letters?"
Moody nodded, seeing straight through the envelope to the lettle inside it. "They're having dreams about him. They think that you're wrong about him being safe... well that Weasley boy does at least, the girl states only "that you may wish to reconsider whether he is well or not.""
"He isn't well. He's grieving and I feel responsible for that whole thing."