JKR's charries aren't mine, but that would be nice. More than nice. Ideal, even. Yes, the last chapter was hard to write...especially for me. I'm such a sucker for James that it was hard to write something so spiteful towards him. Yes, I admit shamelessly: I am a James fangirl. So, if the last chapter sucked, you know why. Anyway, continuing with Day Four. Happy reading!

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"Oi, Harry!" Ron called irritably, "Wait, will you?" Harry had just emerged from NEWT-level Potions, which Ron didn't have with him. He was taking Muggle Studies while Harry spent the period under Snape's hooked nose. Muggle Studies was a lot easier than Potions, but Ron was now very much convinced that Muggles were completely off their nut. Harry paused for only a moment, looking over his shoulder with a wince. Ron glanced over his shoulder, too. He grinned slightly when he saw Colin Creevey heading down the hall, beaming and calling, "Harry!" Ron sped up and caught up with Harry easily. Ron's limbs were somewhat longer than Harry's; he was growing so tall that his robes were slightly too short for him.

"Dodging Colin?" Ron asked knowingly. In his second year especially, Harry had learned that avoiding the small, over-eager boy was a form of unappreciated art. Ron just thought that it was a bit of cheap entertainment. Colin worshipping the ground Harry walked on, while Harry could do nothing but blush and try to get away...quickly...what a sight. Therefore, Ron wasn't surprised when Harry nodded in response. He was surprised, however, when a voice said from behind him, "Really, Harry, it isn't as if he's hurting you."

Hermione fell into step with the boys, gripping a stack of books, parchment, quills and ink bottles just as he and Harry were. She pushed a lot of brown hair from her face and when that didn't succeed, tried to blow it away. Ron watched her curiously, about to ask her where she had been for so long. Before he could attempt to ask, however, Harry grumbled, "I would almost prefer that to this," and gestured backward at Colin. There was a silence for a moment before Harry grinned humorously. Hermione exchanged looks with Ron, eyebrows lifted in pleasant surprise at his good mood. Ha! Serves her right for not being around. I wonder where she's been, anyway...The previous day, he thought that he had seen Harry and Hermione turning a corner up ahead. He had called out, but hadn't been able to catch up with them. Five minutes later, he had been surprised to see Harry join him, looking preoccupied. "Huh, that's funny. I could have sworn I saw you with Hermione a couple of minutes ago," he had said, but Harry had looked at him strangely and said that he hadn't seen Hermione since Transfiguration earlier that day. But I could have sworn...Ron hadn't been able to shake off the feeling that something dodgy was going on.

Hermione laughed at Harry and then Ron asked, "Where have you been getting off to lately?" For some reason, she shot an oddly furtive look at Harry before answering. Harry didn't seem to reciprocate the glance, or even notice that she looked in his direction. It wasn't the sort of thing that Harry would pay attention to. In fact, Ron was surprised that he noticed. His suspicion was roused.

"I...er," she stammered, meeting Ron's eyes, "Well, there has been a lot of homework lately, hasn't there?" She finished briskly, turning her gaze once again to Harry. Harry was still trying to scoot down the corridor, away from a rapidly pursing Colin, slumping his shoulders a bit as if the younger boy would suddenly lose sight of a smaller target.

"Not really," Ron said skeptically. For a moment, Hermione looked at loss for words. He tried to think of the 'lot' of homework that they had been getting, but could only think of Transfiguration and Divination and Hermione wasn't even in the latter. "Just because you don't do your homework doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't," she muttered finally, but it was lacking in her normal bossiness. She's hiding something, Ron thought darkly. The looks that she was giving Harry weren't helping things, either. Hermione avoided looking at Ron altogether. She's hiding something from me. His thoughts took a more accusatory turn asthey all stopped before the portrait hole.

"Password?" The Fat Lady demanded.

"Knarl," said Harry quickly, and with a quick glance over his shoulder (spotting Colin closing in the gap between them rapidly), jumped through the now exposed portrait hole.

"I do my homework!" Sputtered Ron indignantly, unable to come up with a better response than this. She gave him a dry, exasperated look before entering the portrait hole behind Harry. Ron was last to follow. When he emerged, Hermione was giving Harry another odd look. She looked like she had been on the verge of saying something, but let her mouth snap shut when Ron entered.

"What?" Harry said blankly.

"Oh, er...you have a spot of dirt, there, on your nose." Hermione said in a rather high-pitched voice. She reached forward as if to remove something from his face, but Ron didn't see any dirt. As soon as she was done, she made up an excuse and disappeared into the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron both stared after her.

"Acting a little funny, isn't she?" Harry asked before plopping down in an armchair, "She seemed fine in Potions." He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand, for a moment concealing his eyes in the shadow of his fingers.

"Were you two together yesterday?" Ron blurted suddenly.

"What do you—"

"I mean, yesterday. You know, when I was in the same corridor. I thought I saw you and Hermione. I called out, but neither of you answered. I could have sworn Hermione looked back and pushed you—"

"Didn't we talk about this yesterday?" Harry asked irritably, "I don't think I've talked to Hermione much lately, except during class. She's been acting right dodgy if you ask me."

"She kept on giving you these weird looks." Ron said, his voice more accusing than he meant it to be. He was unintentionally becoming angry and hurt, but by what, he didn't know.

"I don't know what you mean by this," Harry replied, starting to get a little angry also, "Just because Hermione is acting odd, doesn't mean I have anything to do with it!"

"So, you do have something to do with it?" Ron said, more than asked. He seemed to have misunderstood Harry. I should have known! Something's going on between Harry and Hermione and they didn't want me to know. They've been sneaking around and now Hermione's feeling guilty! Ron suddenly had ample proof running through his mind, added to the fact that, now that he thought of it, that hadn't been the first time he had sighted Harry and Hermione together in the past couple of days.

"Stop being stupid, would you?" Harry stood up, a flash of anger in his green eyes. Ron didn't very much care about how his best mate was feeling at the moment. Tension was running high in the room when Colin Creevey entered through the portrait hole.

"Stupid, now, am I?" He retorted.

"Yeah. Yeah, you are!" Harry said and turned on his heel, headed towards the boys' dormitories. Ron also turned, but only walked a short distance to the fireplace, where he sunk down and stared broodingly at the flames. I can't believe they would hide this from me. I'm their best friend. Why should I care if they...they snog in broom closets? But Ron did care. He cared, but he'd never admit it to anyone, let alone himself. He cast a warning look at Colin, who had seemed as if he was about to walk over to Ron. Colin stopped in mid-step and decided to go in a different direction. Ron took no more notice of this; he merely resumed staring into the fireplace moodily.