"I knew I should've obliviated him! Why didn't I obliviate him?"

"Hermione, stop! You've been ranting about this for over an hour now", Ron said and leant against the wall in the abandoned corridor.

"This is serious, Ron! What if Harry finds him? What if he finds out what we did?" Hermione asked, scowling at her partner in crime. She hadn't liked the idea of putting another student "out of play", but Dumbledore, no, Professor Dumbledore, had said it was for Harry's own good.

"Dumbledore said we'd be safe, Hermione, stop worrying so much", Ron said with a sigh.

"You're not worrying enough, Ron. Dumbledore can't defend our actions in front of Harry, he'll know he was the one who told us to do it. Harry, or someone else, could easily charge him for kidnapping a student. He could be sentenced to Azkaban, and so could we!" Hermione hissed after checking that the corridor was empty.

By now, Ron's face was as white as a sheet. Obviously, he hadn't thought of that possible outcome. He opened his mouth to suggest they'd just run and hide when McGonagall rounded the corner, stopping briefly in her brisk walk when she saw them, and almost ran up to them, a furious look on her face.

"Oh, bugger", Ron mumbled, knowing he and Hermione were in serious trouble.

-00-

Hermione
Expelled. They'd been expelled! This couldn't be happening. This must be a nightmare, yes, it was all just a horrible nightmare. During our judgement, Professor Dumbledore had tried to reason with the others, but to no avail. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall had threatened to charge Dumbledore for keeping students who tortured others if we weren't expelled immediately.
During their ranting and threatening, I sneaked a glance at Harry, who was leaning against a bookshelf, watching us. He had a big smile on his face, and as our eyes met briefly, he'd smirked and waved his hand, as if already saying goodbye. He was happy to see us go.

How could things have gone so wrong between us? What had happened to change Harry so badly? Was it something we had done, well, besides from torturing his friend? Why couldn't he understand we had done it for his own good? We were just trying to help him!

Professor Dumbledore had no choice but to comply with the others demands and had expelled us. Ron's mother had come via the floo and had been completely furious with us. I don't think I've ever been so scared of Mrs Weasley before.

'"HOW COULD YOU?

YOU TORTURED ANOTHER STUDENT, HOW COULD YOU SINK SO LOW? MY OWN SON! YOUR FATHER IS HEARTBROKEN, I HOPE YOU'RE PROUD OF YOURSELF, RONALD! AND YOU, HERMIONE, I'D NEVER THINK YOU COULD DO SUCH A HORRIBLE THING! WHAT WILL YOUR PARENTS SAY? I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU TWO! YOU BOTH DESERVE TO BE EXPELLED, TEN TIMES OVER!"'

Harry wouldn't even spare us a glance as he left the office. I'm sure he was heading to the Hospital Wing to see Aiden. Perhaps it had been wrong of me to listen to Professor Dumbledore? I never liked the idea of hurting another person, but Harry was such an important person in the Wizarding world, he couldn't afford to make other friends, what if they turned out to be Death Eaters? He'd need us when the time would come, and now we wouldn't be able to stand beside him.

I tried to talk to him before the train left from Hogsmeade, but he just glared at me and walked away. Ron had also tried but was met with the same glare. His glare was nothing as to what my parents would say when I'd be home. How on Earth could I explain to them that I'd only done it to help my friend?

-00-

Harry
"How are you feeling?" I asked Aiden and sat down on his bed in the Hospital Wing. I'd just seen Granger and Weasley leave by the train and couldn't be happier. Granger had tried to talk to me before they left, but she had to be stupid to think I'd ever want to see her face again, much less talk to her. I'm sure Dumbledore had convinced them to do it by saying it was for my own good.

"Good, Pomfrey says I can leave soon. She threatened to tie me to the bed if I tried to sneak away before she deemed me well enough to leave", Aiden said, sounding annoyed. "I've been here for two days, and I'm almost ready to murder someone, just out of boredom."

"I know exactly what you mean", I said and mentally stuck my tongue out at Tom who was laughing at my statement. "Most of the times, you were the reason I ended up here anyways." I pointed out.

We were interrupted by Pomfrey who said that Aiden needed to sleep, and I chuckled at Aiden's look of utter boredom before I headed back to the common room.

"That may be true, but we all know you are a magnet to trouble. It finds you wherever you go. It will never let you be. Like a stalker."

"I can't help but think of Bellatrix when I hear that."

"I was referring to her, yes. She really was like a stalker. A crazy one. It's a good thing she's dead." Tom muttered, and I knew he was thinking of the moment when he killed her. "How have you been?"

"Good, considering my friend's been tortured. And I so loved to watch Mrs Weasley yell at the two bastards. All that was missing was a comfortable chair and some popcorn."

"Yes, that was very entertaining… I miss you, Harry." I could hear the longing in his voice and sighed, knowing this was no time for teasing.

"I miss you, too, Tom. And I've been thinking about that kiss."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'd like to do that again sometime. If you want."

"I think you already know the answer to that, Harry."

I smiled, already anticipating our next meeting.