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Chapter 7: Time in the Library
Harry awoke the next morning feeling rested—an exceedingly rare occurrence over the course of the last year. As he stretched loose his tight muscles, he spared a glance over at Ron's four-poster and found it empty of not just Hermione, but Ron as well. Directing his eyes towards the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it was 7:54 in the morning. Not terribly early, but early for Ronald Weasley.
Swinging his legs from his bed, Harry made his way to the bathroom and showered quickly, curious as to where Ron had gone. Upon further self-appraisal, he performed a simple hair-removal spell to eliminate the scruff covering his cheeks. For once in his life, he would have rather liked to have a haircut, but had no desire to try it himself—with his luck he'd end up butchering it. Perhaps he would ask Hermione; while certainly no expert herself, she had done a passable job of it before.
After he had pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, Harry snatched up his wand and exited the dormitory. The common room was completely empty, which was not much of a revelation. Undoubtedly the handful of occupants in the castle were either sleeping or having breakfast in the Great Hall.
He was a bit more surprised to see the Great Hall was empty. Sitting down at one of the ten place settings situated at the table, he 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.
Somewhat sullenly, Harry made his way slowly back up the stairs and meandered aimlessly among the corridors, not paying any special attention to where he was going. Eventually, Harry found himself in front of the library, the doors to which were shut tightly. He found this in no way peculiar, as Madam Pince had undoubted left with the other teachers.
But as he turned around to walk back the way he had come, a loud thump resounded from within the library. Curious, Harry slipped his wand from his pocket and pushed the door, which swung inward on silent hinges.
The library looked empty, and Harry decided he didn't much like an empty Hogwarts, despite his previous fondness for the handful of holidays he had spent within its walls. 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.
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 promptly 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're you doing here?"
Hermione blinked at him.
"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 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," Hermione said. "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 said, and then 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, upon which they placed the large tomes.
"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 towards 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. "No one's here. Where are the Weasleys, anyway?"
Hermione frowned sadly and her response was rather quiet. "They…they had to go make…well, arrangements. For Fred."
"Oh." Harry felt the all-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 following Sirius's death, 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. But perhaps that was wishful thinking on his part, a testament to his own reluctance to talk about it.
He couldn't help but also feel curiosity 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 text, "I would guess she hasn't dated anyone else. 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.
Hermione opened her book once more, still smirking.
"See, you're not the only one who can tease."
She buried her face once more into her book.
"Although I would get going and make some sort of move before she gets mad," she added after a moment, not bothering to look up. "If she isn't already furious."
Harry gulped as a glimpse of something that looked eerily like a bat flashed across his mind.
"Yeah, I probably should."
