Harry waited for Hermione and Ron in the common room after he had his first Occlumency lesson with Snape, he was eager to relate all that had happened as they walked down to breakfast on the Monday morning of the first day of term.
It had been horrible, as Harry quickly described the events with Snape to Ron and Hermione before Kristopher had joined them at the foot of the stairs, but Snape had actually complemented him, or so Harry had interpreted it, by saying that although he Harry's mind was weak, his performance in the lesson was better than had been expected. Hermione had rubbed his temples for him, while Ron pointedly looked away, taking a sudden interest in a funny looking man in a nearby portrait, for Harry had been rubbing them himself, muttering at how straining Snape's relentless penetration to his mind had been.
"Every time he pointed his wand at me I remembered different scenes from my past, mostly with the Dursleys, and mostly Dudley beating me up when I was five or six," Harry said, when Hermione had finished rubbing his temples. "Then I would collapse on the floor and reawaken to Snape saying, 'Weak! Mr. Potter! You are astoundingly weak minded! Foolish to let someone see those memories!' Then he would ask me about each memory, when it happened, and stuff like that."
"You mean 'ol Snape got to see your cousin beating you up?" Ron asked, bewildered. "What does that mean?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know, I don't understand it yet. But if it's the last thing I do, I will not let Snape continue to penetrate my mind! If a dimwit like him can do it, it's no wonder Voldemort can." Ron shuddered at the name.
But Harry didn't get many words in before Kristopher joined them, looking thoroughly confused as to why Ron was enjoying the company of his two former, now present once again, best friends. Kristopher had returned to Hogwarts late last night, so he hadn't been aware of any new bonds between them, as many of the Gryffindors had already noticed, and were greatly relieved to witness. Ron had even apologized to Neville, who looked extremely taken aback, but accepted his apology and told him that didn't mind his new bed.
Kristopher raised an eyebrow, looking from Harry to Ron. "I see you boys have patched things up, eh?" he said, taking in the boys nods and smiles—Ron's more friendly than Harry's. "I always thought it was a bit dim of you Ron to get upset with your best friends over a girl," he continued, "but then again, seeing as you have two best friends, and they hooked up together…I can totally see why you've forgiven them."
Ron turned to him and began talking, trying to explain, but Harry and Hermione looked at each other curiously. Had Kristopher been the one keeping Ron from forgiving them this whole time? Hermione's eyes went up and down, and then she scrunched her forehead, which Harry took to mean, We'll talk about this later without them.
As the foursome traveled down the Gryffindor table to an open spot that would fit the lot of them, many heads turned and whispered, even pointing in their direction. Harry and Hermione sat across from Kristopher and Ron, both immediately began scooping food onto their plates. Harry reckoned he'd never felt hungrier, the lessons with Snape had been dreadful and left him with a sunken feeling in the pit of his stomach that felt as though he could try and try for years to fill the spot with food and it would never completely heal over.
Ron scooped food onto his own plate as well, hurriedly as though he'd been starved for days, but Kristopher seemed to be taking things a little slower. He took a muffin from a nearby basket and a butterknife, clearly taking his spreading seriously. Ron looked up at him from a mouthful of scrambled eggs and gave him a quizzical look.
"Just like that?" Kristopher asked distastefully, reawakening the subject again. "You forgive them for hooking up…just like that?" Harry looked up from his food and felt Hermione tense up, even though she didn't look up from her food, or what she rather seemed to be taking a great interest to under the table.
If Ron hadn't been chewing more than was necessary to speak without spitting food, his mouth would have dropped, but he quickly chewed, which wasn't so quickly, and gulped as much as he could down, which appeared to be quite painful.
"Aw, come off it, you don't know the whole story," he took a swig of his pumpkin juice, the painful twinge in his face disappearing. "Besides," he grinned at Harry, "the more I think about it, the more I reckon that they were pretty much dating for the last couple years anyway." He paused, then continued, slowly, "Without all the…snogging, of course. But no matter," he paused again to wink at Harry, "we've got it all sorted out. If they want some time alone, Harry gives me a look, and when he wants to kiss her, he gives me another look."
Hermione's head shot up from the book she had been attempting to conceal under the table and glanced somewhat frantically from Harry to Ron, and then back to Harry. "Look? You share a look when you want to kiss me? That's absurd!" she scoffed and took a bite of her own biscuit. "Show me, what's the look?" she demanded.
Harry smiled at her, then said, "Fine, but you won't get it." He nodded at her, then looked at Ron. "Which one was that?" he asked Ron. Hermione's brow furrowed, she obviously couldn't tell anything from the "look" Harry had given Ron.
Ron sighed, "Too easy. You want to kiss her. Go on, then." He turned his head down and pretended to look into his bag at his feet.
Harry leaned over towards Hermione, but she put her hands on his chest to prevent him. "I didn't see it! Do it again." She leaned across the table to stare into Harry's face as both Harry and Ron shrugged, and Harry looked at Ron again.
"Oh come now," Ron said, "you're going to confuse her. Besides, I can't leave now, I haven't finished my breakfast." There was a hint of a smile playing at his lips.
Hermione's face went pink. "You boys are so ridiculous. Ron, you can't possibly decipher what Harry is saying…he's not doing anything!"
Ron sighed, faking an impatient drawl, he said, "Hermione, you're a girl, of course you're not going to understand. Harry just gave me two very distinct looks which I interpreted perfectly, didn't I, mate?" He grinned, and Harry nodded, grinning back. "See!"
Hermione shook her head and looked down at her book. "I am thoroughly confused, but obviously I can't do anything about it if I can't even see Harry making a facial expression myself." She went back to reading, and attempting to hit her mouth accurately with her next bite of biscuit.
Kristopher seemed to have the same perplexed look as Hermione. "She's right, you know," he said through a mouthful of muffin. "Absolutely absurd." Harry and Ron turned back to their food and, as they did so. Kristopher seemed to shrug, as though he couldn't do anything about it and just decided to live with it.
But as breakfast drew rapidly to a close, Harry could feel a very strong and irritable vibe coming from Kristopher. It was as though he, Harry, was getting a look into the boy's head, without withdrawing memories from him as Snape had done to Harry for nearly and hour and a half. It was curious, though, because although Harry was not looking Kristopher in the eye, he could almost see the red shots of fury spurting inside the boy for it had become more natural already to Harry to keep his mind serene. He wondered to himself if this is what his book was getting at. The more he remained serene, the more aware he was of other's emotions? Maybe that was how to detect a Legilimens.
Ron and Kristopher went on ahead to Divination, Harry saying he would meet up with them there. His partner had been Neville for the last month of last term, afterall, and he felt an obligation to remain partners with him. The boy had promise, as he'd shown over and over in DA meetings, but after Ron had been so cruel to Neville while he was mad at him, Harry felt it was the least he could do.
Monday mornings Hermione had Ancient Runes instead of Divination, and it had become custom for Harry to walk her halfway there, and then split and take several shortcuts in order to make it to Divination on time.
They got up to leave breakfast about five minutes after Ron and Kristopher left, Harry taking her hand in his.
"This is so much better," Hermione said as they walked out into the entrance hall to take the flight of stairs to the second floor. "I mean, everything feels so much more right when Ron isn't upset with us."
Harry nodded. "I agree," he said, "it almost feels as though we make sense again. Or rather, we can finally work."
She looked up at him. "Do you mean you and I, or all three of us?"
He smiled. "You and I." Then, as if he just remembered, he stood up straight and let go of Hermione's hand.
"What is it?" she asked, watching him dig though his pockets.
"I almost forgot," he said, smiling broadly. Then he pulled out of his pocket a long golden chain and held it in front of Hermione's eyes. Her eyes widened as she put out her hand and Harry coiled it onto her palm. "I found it in my bedside dresser."
"Oh, Harry!" a tear rolled down her cheek and she threw her arms around him, planting her lips right on top of his. "Thank you so much!" she kissed him again.
He kissed her back and slung an arm around her waist. "If it goes missing again, don't be surprised. I kind of like the reward." She smiled and looked down at the chain again.
"Would you put it on me?" she asked, holding it out for him to take. She held up her hair so that he could put it around her neck.
He took the necklace and unclasped the lock, only to find that it had been broken. "No wonder you lost it," he said, "the clasp is broken."
"No!" she said, slightly horrified. "Oh, that's rotten luck." She sighed and slipped it into her own pocket. "I'll fix it later."