Chapter 21

"I can't believe you're actually leaving," Hermione said angrily, storming about the boy's dorm.

"Well, I am," Harry replied. His tone was cold and he was doing everything in his power not to blow up on her entirely.

"You're just going to give up your entire education?" she demanded, hands on her hips. She had finally stopped pacing.

"He'll be back once You-Know-Who is gone," said Ron. "Right, Harry?"

"Oh, don't tell me you believe that tosh, Ron," Hermione snapped. "I know exactly what this is about. Professor Snape."

Harry threw the book that he had been reading down in disgust. "Get out."

Hermione frowned. "No, Harry. I know that you're just going to go off and find Professor Snape, when he'd really rather—"

"You don't know him," Harry cut her off, forcing himself to stay calm. "You don't know what he wants, or what he'd rather that I do. Now get out."

Hermione cast a pleading look at Ron, who simply shrugged. She left the dorm, muttering furiously under her breath. Ron rose to follow her, when Harry held up a hand.

"Don't go," he said. "You're not bothering me. It's her." Ron sat back down in his bed. "Let her stew for a while."

"You knew she'd act this way, mate," Ron reasoned with him.

"I still had to tell her," Harry replied in a tired voice. "Just like I knew you were going to be the world's biggest prat once I told you that I was with Severus. All the same, I still had to let you know."

Ron grimaced but chose to change the subject. "Is that really why you want to leave, though? For Snape?"

Harry deliberated for a few moments, wondering how honest he should be. Finally, he said, "Part of it."

Ron gave a low whistle, but otherwise said nothing. He began to turn a pillow in his hands, seemingly lost in thought.

"But don't tell that to Hermione," Harry said after a moment. "She'll kill me."

"She'll come around," Ron said. Harry remembered when Hermione had told him those exact same words in regards to Ron.

"Yeah, maybe," said Harry. "Anyways, I should probably start packing."

"You don't leave until Friday," Ron frowned. "That's a whole week away.

"I know, but, I think Hermione's going to try and intervene."

They both laughed.

"She probably would," Ron chuckled. "Hide all your socks or something."

Harry snorted and began to shuffle through his trunk. As he pulled up a slim book he heard a clunk and jumped in alarm. Worried that he had broken an inkpot or the like, he burrowed past the mountain of broken quills, books, and pieces of parchment until he came to the bottom of the trunk. Scraping his fingers across the wood, he finally felt something cool and hard touch his knuckles. Pulling it out, he groaned as Severus' watch twinkled in the fading sunlight that was pouring into the room.

There was a hard, solid lump in Harry's throat that he tried to swallow in vain. He remembered clearly those wonderful moments when Severus had given him the watch: he had not been expecting a present, and certainly never one of this kind.

"You miss him, don't you?" Ron asked quietly.

Harry nodded, incapable of speech, and set the watch on his wrist. He shoved his palm into his eyes in an attempt to stop the flow of tears that was now threatening to overcome him: it would do nothing to cry.

"I'm sorry," Ron nearly whispered. "When I told all of them, I was just so shocked. I had never expected it. I told them without thinking, and now..." He trailed off, looking as though he was ready to cry as well.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, trying his best to seem cheery. "I'll be with him soon enough. It's only a matter of time before I get an owl back from him."

"Any idea where he is?" Ron asked hopefully.

"I have no clue," Harry sighed. "I really think he's with the Order. Lupin can't go out much, right? So maybe Severus is doing the same..."

He suddenly gasped, staring at Ron.

"What?" his friend asked. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"That's it, Ron," Harry breathed, excitement swelling inside of him like a balloon. "I'll owl Lupin. If Severus is with the Order, he's bound to tell me. McGonagall wouldn't: Dumbledore's probably told all of the teachers to keep quiet about where he's gone to. But Lupin..."

He grabbed a quill, some ink, and a bit of parchment. Hardly aware that Ron was still present, he began to write, heart thumping. Harry and Lupin were very close: he considered him to be something of a father figure. Surely he would give him the answers he so desperately needed.

Ron waited in silence as Harry finished his letter, but he did not wait long: Harry was soon reading out to him what he had written.

Dear Remus,

How are you? Everything's going quite well over here. I don't know if you've heard, but I'm thinking of leaving Hogwarts. I'd fancy seeing you once I left. I should be at the Burrow, if you'd like to come and see me sometime after this Friday. I was just wondering, have you heard from Snape lately? He's left the school, and we were just wondering if he had gone to stay with you lot.

Best wishes,

Harry

"He won't mind that you call him 'Remus'"? Ron frowned.

"He told me to call him that ages ago," Harry explained. "Given he's not my professor anymore, and, well, that is his name, it's logical. But you don't think it's too obvious, what I wrote?"

"No, it's alright. He probably hasn't heard anything of you and Snape," Ron replied.

"I've got to go and find Hedwig," Harry announced, rising from his bed, "so I guess I'll catch you later."

"I'll come too," said Ron quickly. "I was just about to head down and get something to eat, anyways."

Though Harry said nothing as he stepped out of the dorm, he was grateful for Ron's decision to accompany him. Coming to the Owlery to deliver a letter to Severus clearly meant that, in some way, Ron was willing to accept the relationship.

"Does this mean," Ron asked as they walked into the room filled with straw and owl droppings, "that if you find out where Snape is, you'll stay here?"

"Maybe," Harry replied, extending a hand to Hedwig. She hopped forward onto his arm, clearly pleased to have his company: he had been visiting her quite often lately, and what with the sudden lapse in his attendance, she had no doubt grown worried.

Ron held Hedwig while Harry attached his letter, and after giving the snowy owl a few affectionate strokes, the latter flew off. It was already nearing dusk outside, and so the boys decided to go to the Great Hall and eat.

All throughout dinner, Harry was in much higher spirits: he was possibly going to receive a letter from Lupin soon, detailing Severus' precise location. Every time he thought of this, his heart beat faster and his stomach flopped around, and so Harry decided to concentrate on his meal, rather than wonder when his letter would arrive.

The moment Harry and Ron returned to the Common Room, Hermione approached them.

"Where have you been?" she demanded.

"We went to send an owl," Harry replied. Deciding that it was best if he told her the truth, he added, "I asked Lupin where Severus was."

Hermione pursed her lips, but before she could reply, Ron groaned.

"Hermione, save it," he said. "It's just an honest question. And this way, Harry said he wouldn't leave Hogwarts."

"Maybe," Harry reminded him. "Depending on what kind of an answer I get."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Hermione asked stiffly. "In the meantime, you both have Defence Against the Dark Arts homework."

Though Harry hardly felt like working, he went and sat with Hermione anyways, allowing her to explain to him the proper way of dealing with a sphinx.

"Why should we have to learn this?" Ron asked. "Harry's already gotten by one, hasn't he?"

"Yes, Ronald, he has," Hermione replied, "but you haven't. Besides, everyone should know about the kind of questions they ask. They usually revolve around a certain theme, for example, which you'll find usually involve..."

Harry allowed her voice to wash over him, though he wasn't concentrating on the individual words. She had barely begun to explain to them precisely what they had to write for their essays, however, when they heard a tapping at the window. It was Hedwig.

"Already?" Ron asked in surprise.

Harry leapt up in surprise, granting Hedwig entrance to the Common Room. She shook her white feathers of rain and offered her leg dutifully. Harry quickly untied his letter, pet Hedwig, and watched as she soared out the window and into the night sky.

"What did he say?" Hermione asked sharply.

Harry did not need further encouragement; he all but ripped the letter open in his eagerness to read the response.

Eep. Please don't hate me. I love you all! I really do! The next chapter will prove it, I swear.