Chapter 29 Learning the Ways

By the time Harry and Hermione returned to the Castle, it was nearly time for lunch. However, food was the last thing on Harry's mind. He felt incredibly lousy from having been around all of the pollen, and wanted to just curl up on one of the cushioned armchairs and rest for a few hours. "Do you want me to bring you anything from the Great Hall?" Hermione asked after getting him settled and wrapped in blankets.

"That would be great, Hermione. Nothing too heavy, though."

"Like a bowl of soup?" She suggested as he blew his nose on a tissue. Soup was one of Harry's favorite foods to eat when he didn't feel well. At that moment, the sound of tapping could be heard from the common room window, and Hermione went to open it. She saw Hedwig fluttering outside and the owl swooped past her, landing on the arm of Harry's chair. Bound to her leg was a note, and Harry anxiously untied it.

"It's a note from Sirius!" He said, still holding a tissue in one hand as he opened the letter with the other. Hermione knelt down by his feet and prepared to listen, anxious to see what the response was. It read:

Dear Harry,

I am glad you are feeling well, though I do hope you are taking care of your allergies and asthma.

All I have to say about Snape directing a broadway musical is this:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I love you and will see you later, Sirius

p.s. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Hermione burst into giggles when Harry finished reading the letter. "That is exactly the type of response I expected from him," She sniggered. "Well, honey-I'll be back with your lunch in a bit. I'm starving so I'm going to head down there." She kissed him and stood up just as he sneezed. "Bless you." She told him before turning to leave the tower.

Harry watched the portrait hole close behind Hermione and he snuggled into his cocoon of blankets before sneezing yet again. He hated feeling so clogged up all of the time and so tired, but he also knew that he couldn't use his illness as a crutch-it wasn't worth it. Plus, he loved Hermione so much and wanted to be the kind of boyfriend she needed. He proceeded to sneeze twice in a row just as the portrait hole opened again and Jessica entered. His mouth fell open when he saw what she looked like and he stopped her, asking what on Earth had happened, for Jessica had sprouted feathers!

She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but she squawked instead. Then Harry knew exactly what had happened. "Oh no-Fred and George. The Canary Crèmes, right?" He asked and she nodded, her eyes filled with tears. "Don't worry, Jess. You're not the only one who was fooled by them. It'll wear off in a bit."

Without another word, Jess turned and headed up to the girl's dormitory and Harry could hear the door slam behind her. Erin entered a few feet behind her and was in the exact same condition. She waved to Harry and sat down on the bottom step leading to the girl's wing, and leaned her chin in her palm. "Who did they get first?" Harry asked. Then his nose suddenly wrinkled up and he sneezed loudly. This caused Erin to stand and she pointed to her feathers and then to her nose since she couldn't talk in a normal, human voice. He shrugged. "That's not possible-I can't be allergic to feathers-I haven't sneezed around Hedwig yet!"

Erin shrugged and waved to him as she went to join her other friend. When the two younger girls were gone, Harry took a deep breath. His chest hurt from sneezing so hard, and now his nose was completely blocked. He glanced up at the ceiling and attempted to get comfortable again and fall asleep. He only awoke when Hermione came back to the tower with his lunch tray and gave him a gentle shake.

"Mmm mmm." He mumbled, when she tried to encourage him to take a few spoonfuls of the soup. Alarmed, Hermione felt his forehead and cheek, but found no fever.

"You just want to sleep Harry?" She asked.

He nodded. "Mmmm hmmm." He mumbled.

She sighed and stroked his hair. "All right, then. I'll just set this aside and put a heating charm on it in case you get hungry later. You really should eat something, though."

Harry opened a bleary eye, and from his position on the chair could only see the hem of her skirt. She knelt down and grinned. "Cozy are we?" She teased, noticing how wrapped up he was.

"Did you see Jess and Erin?" Harry croaked, finally forcing himself to sit up straight.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "No. What about them?"

"Well, they're learning about the Weasley twins the hard way. Both of them ate a Canary Crème and are probably sqwaking away upstairs."

Hermione shook her head with a roll of her eyes. "Those two- HONESTLY." She smiled again. "So-are you ready for the dance audition?"

Harry sneezed before answering. "Dance what?"

"For the play, doofus!" She laughed. "We still have to dance for Snape before we can get our roles. Want to see what I've been working on?"

Harry looked a bit frightened. "Urm-sure."

"It's a bit of tap and ballet. I took two years of each when I was little-um-I accidentally turned my dance instructor's hair green and that's how my parents figured something was up with me."

Harry laughed. "No kidding? I turned my teacher's hair blue!"

Hermione giggled. "Well anyway-watch this. This is called a shuffle." She started kicking her heels along the rug and for a few minutes the dance reminded Harry more of an Irish jig than tap dancing, only her legs weren't kicking up high enough. When she finished, she bowed and he clapped, just as the portrait hole opened yet again and Ron stepped in with Lavender. As a joke, Hermione tap-danced in a circle around Ron, who had one eyebrow raised and his arms folded when she'd finished.

"Hey happy feet," He sniggered. "Chill out."

"Is that for the dance audition, Hermione?" asked Lavender.

"Yep! What did you think?"

"Great! I didn't know you could tap dance!" She linked arms with Hermione and the two of them started dancing together. As they were doing this, Ron shook his head and turned to Harry.

"So why didn't you come to lunch?" He asked.

"Wasn't feeling well," Harry admitted.

"Oh, that's too bad, but I-WHOA! Did I ASK to be part of your troupe? Hey!" Ron cried when Lavender grabbed his arm and urged him into their routine.

"Kick up your feet, Ron!" Lavender encouraged through her laughter. At that moment, Jess and Erin descended the stairs feather-free and stopped on the bottom step watching the process with open-mouths. At that point, Ginny, followed by a group of her Gryffindor friends, tap-danced into the tower, much to Harry's surprise and he had a feeling it was all a set-up to make him feel better.

"What is this?" He cried. When the number ended, everyone broke into roars of laughter, including Harry, who was clapping again for them.

"You guys have very odd ways of cheering me up," He sniggered.

"Only the best for you." Hermione chortled. "So now will you eat before I have to spoon feed you? And I know how much you HATE being pampered." She lifted the lunch tray and placed it onto Harry's lap, and soon the common room broke into conversation coming from different angles.

"I love you, Hermione." Harry told his girlfriend, embracing her in a tight hug. She hugged him right back, kissing the top of his head.

"I love you too, Harry."

"SAPPINESS!" Ron sung in an operetic voice.

"Oh shush, you georgous hunk of man you." Lavender teased, wrapping her arms around him and planting her lips on his. Harry peered into the mug on the tray and noticed a dark liquid in it with whipped cream swirled in.

"What is this?" He asked, because with his blocked nose he could hardly smell it.

"Hot chocolate of course!"

"Ohhhhhh." He took a sip, grimacing as it nearly burned his lips, so he had to blow on it to cool it down. He'd only had hot chocolate one other time-in the Knight bus the summer before his third year. Actually-he'd gotten close to having it, but the assistant, Stan, had accidentally spilled it all over his pillow, so technically this was the first time he'd ever really tried it.

Lavender found that very hard to believe and she told Harry so.

"Well-I never got treats like this at the Dursleys and was too sick over the summer to have anything heavy," Harry explained. "But this is really good."

Hermione blushed. "That's good."

After taking his third sip, Harry looked up at his friends. "So what time is that dance audition?" He asked, causing them all to smile.