Hermione let out a sigh of relief as she walked out of Transfiguration that day, Remus by her side. The project was now officially over and done with. There would be no more late night's with Severus in the library, no after dinner meetings, no more arguing, no more snide comments, in fact, she doubted very much if she would have another actually conversation with Snape again. An odd pang shot through her stomach and her smile wavered ever so slightly at the thought. True, while her daily meetings with Severus were never the highlight of her day, they weren't the worst. In fact, after they had, well, sorted out their differences, things had become quite pleasant.

'But now,' Hermione reasoned with herself, 'my nights will be free to spend with Remus again.'

Her smile grew as she thought of the boy walking beside her. Sure, it was a bit odd for her to think that she was dating her former, or future, professor, someone who was about twenty years her senior, but at the moment she could care less. To her, he was her best friend here, he was her confidant, and he was hers.

She looked down at her watch for a moment and immediately increased her walking speed. After all, if she didn't hurry, she would be late to charms.

Harry walked out of Potions, and for the first time ever, had a smile on his face. Snape had been missing for about a week, no one knew where or why, and Dumbledore had begun teaching in his place.

Rumors had been circulating about the school as to what exactly had happened to the Potions Master, for no one believed the cock and bull story that Dumbledore had provided them with. They had been told that the Professor had been taken ill and was quarantined in his room. It seemed, however, that the explanation did not go over with the inhabitants of Hogwarts, owing to the fact that Snape had never once missed a class for being ill.

Some said that there had been an accident one night when Snape had been brewing some potions for Madame Pomfrey, and his cauldron had exploded, nearly killing him.

Some said that he had been hexed by some 7th year he had wrongly failed and was turned into a real bat, and couldn't change back.

But the favorite among the students was that Snape had forgotten his 'protective shield' one afternoon and had burst into flames as a result. It served as a good explanation for those who had long thought the Professor to be a vampire, a rumor that had only grown when people found out that Dumbledore had hired a Werewolf as a professor.

But Harry didn't believe any of them, he had his own idea. He thought that Voldemort had finally done the old bat in, and Harry couldn't be happier. He was now enjoying potions, and he felt his grade was improving also, without Snape's incredibly harsh grading system; he had actually managed an E on one of his essays.

Besides, now that Snape was out of the way, Harry had no competition for when Hermione finally came back, not that he thought Snape was much competition anyway, but he rather liked that their was none, save Lupin, though he had been assured that nothing was ever going to happen for those two again.

Smiling, Harry walked into the Great Hall and took his normal seat beside Ron. He looked over at the seat across from his, out of pure habit, and felt a pang shoot through his stomach. He turned over to Ron, who was stuffing his face with chicken and potatoes, and nudged him slightly, gaining his attention, "Ron, when do you think she will come back?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders, chewing the remaining food in his mouth, "No idea, probably when Dumbledore says she can."

Harry raised his eyebrow at Ron, but then he remembered, he hadn't told Ron about what had really happened to her. For once in Harry's life, he hadn't told Ron something important, and the kicker was, he found that he didn't want Ron to know. Shrugging it off, he began to pile some food onto his plate.

Ten minutes later, after Harry had begun to grow full, and Ron had cut his eating speed in about half, Harry took another stab at conversation. "Hey, Ron, how is everything going?"

Ron rolled his eyes and dropped his fork onto his plate, "Harry, how many times have I asked for you to not refer to it as everything? If you want to know how Blaise and I are going, just ask!"

"Um, ok then. So, Ron, how is everything going with, you and, er, Blaise?"

"Fine Harry."

Harry went back to eating, completely oblivious to the uneasy looking Ron right next to him. He was startled slightly when Ron abruptly stood up and began walking out of the Great Hall, leaving his pack behind. Harry furrowed his eyebrows and called after the retreating Ron, "Where you going?"

Ron turned back for the briefest of moments and yelled out, "No where. Take my pack up to Gryffindor will you?"

He didn't seem to wait for a response as he quickly walked out of the Great Hall. Harry shook his head and went back to his own potato. He would just have to ask Ron about it later. He looked at his watch and quickly finished off his remaining food, grabbed Ron's pack along with his own, and walked towards his afternoon classes.

Harry walked back into Gryffindor tower later that night, his mind buzzing. Ron hadn't been in any of his afternoon classes, in fact, no one had even seen him after he had left the Great Hall so suddenly. Harry had gone to most of the teachers, and even to Madame Pomfrey, but no one had seen him. He was beginning to get worried, if something had happened to Ron, then he would be left alone, without his two best friends. Not having Hermione here was bad enough, but for Ron to leave would certainly kill him.

He ran up towards the Boy's Dorm's, hoping to find Ron up their. He threw open the door and looked around the room, Ron was lying in his bed, simply staring at the ceiling. Harry, suddenly angry at his best friend for worrying him like that, stalked over to the bed and shoved Ron off.

Ron fell onto the ground with a yelp, and stood up quickly. "What the bloody hell did you do that for?"

"Where were you this afternoon? You weren't in classes, you weren't in the hospital wing, you weren't anywhere!"

Ron eyed Harry oddly and crawled back into his bed, staring at the ceiling once more, "I was here Harry, no big deal."

"No big deal? Ron, you have never missed classes without telling me first! I was worried that something had happened to you! Hermione's already gone; I don't need to loose my last best friend."

"Harry, you are starting to sound like my mum. Nothing happened to me, I'm still here, get over it."

Harry shook his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door on the way. He walked through the common room, not paying attention, and slammed into someone, bumping heads and falling onto the floor.

Harry groaned as he laid their for a moment, the body on top of him cutting of most of his circulation. He looked up to see who exactly he had collided with, and saw a familiar head of red hair. Ginny was lying on top of him, rubbing her head.

"Sorry Ginny, I didn't see you there."

"It's OK Harry, I guess I didn't see you either."

The two laid there for a moment, not exactly knowing why. It was only when Harry felt his extremities going numb, that he asked Ginny if she was going to get off of him anytime soon.

He watched as her cheek's flushed with color and she quickly got off of him, accidentally knocking her knee where the sun don't shine. Harry curled into a ball when he felt the knee collide and rolled over onto his side, as if protecting himself from anything else that might wish to cause him bodily harm.

He could see through his squinted eyes, that Ginny's cheeks had become a color that would beat any of the Weasley boys on their best day. She quickly dropped down to her knee's beside his head, and looked at him, as if trying to figure out something to help, "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Harry, I didn't mean to. It was an accident."

The pain was slowly receding but Harry didn't want to move from his protective position, "It's ok Gin, I'll be fine in a minute."

"Can I get you some ice or something?"

"No, that's ok. I don't need frostbite at the moment."

After a few more moments, Harry felt good enough to stand up and slowly got to his feet. He stood still for a few moments to get his bearings and then straightened up and walked over to a couch in the corner he was originally walking towards. He allowed himself to sink into the wonderfully soft fabric and he closed his eyes. He soon felt a dip towards the right of him and figured that Ginny had sat down beside him.

"Harry, what's wrong."

He shook his head, "Nothing Ginny."

He felt her gaze on his face and opened his eyes to face her, immediately regretting it. It was times like these; he could see how well Mrs. Weasley had taught her daughter. She was giving him the motherly glare, one that showed she knew that he was lying, and commanded him to tell her what was wrong. Harry shook his head slightly and let out a slight laugh, "You know you look exactly like your mother when you do that."

Ginny smiled slightly, "Yes, I know. So are you going to tell me?"

Harry shrugged and closed his eyes once again, his scar was starting to prickle slightly and he felt as if a headache was setting in. "Ron is being a prick. He seemed to be in an odd mood today at lunch, then he just disappeared for the rest of the afternoon, and now I find him up in the dorm, just lying about. He said that he had been there all afternoon, then when I told him that I was worried it was like he didn't care at all. I don't know why this is bothering me so much, it's just that I've already lost Hermione, and I don't want to loose my other best friend."

The two sat there for a moment, neither of them talking. It seemed Ginny was chewing things over in her mind, as she always did, and weighing her words. "Ron has been acting weird lately, but I had just written it off to Hermione not being here, but I'm not sure that is the case anymore. Whatever it is Harry, something is going on with him, something big, I don't know what it is and I'm a bit worried."

Harry moved to open his mouth but Ginny put one finger up in front of his mouth as if to stop him, "No Harry, I don't think it has to do anything with Blaise."

Harry's mouth dropped slightly open and Ginny smirked, "What? I over heard you and Ron talking about it last week during breakfast. I can be very sneaky when I want to be. But as I was saying, I don't think it's that. Something else is going on with him. Just stick close to him and maybe he will tell you eventually. As for now, just try not to let these things get to you."

Harry shook his head, "I know Gin."

She arched her eyebrow, "So, is there anything else bothering you?"

Harry smiled, "No, nothing else."

"Good, because Dean is calling me over. See you later Harry."

Harry waved goodbye and closed his eyes once more. What he needed right now was a nap, his head was getting worse and his scar was still prickling slightly. He stretched his legs out onto the couch and pulled a pillow under his head. He rolled over so his back was towards the common room, not wanting to take any more chances on that side being hurt again, and he promptly fell asleep.