VII.

HARRY VERSUS HARRIET

                Harriet Potley was all dressed up for her date that day with Draco Malfoy. They had planned to meet outside the Great Hall around 1 PM.  Harriet was about to go out of the Gryffindor tower when Ginny went in.

"Oh Harriet! Draco's waiting for you. You should hurry up," Ginny informed.

"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny… you don't know anything about boys and dating, do you? Girls always make the boys wait," Harriet replied.

"OK, but Draco's been waiting for you for half an hour already so I just thought you should know."

"There's nothing I don't know."

"He looks really cute…"

"He is."

No he's not!!! Harry thought. He's disgusting! Let me out! Help! Ginny!!! Ginny help me!

Shut up, Harry! Don't worry… soon you'll be sleeping forever! Harriet said to Harry.

No!!! Let me out, you monster!

Never!

Ginny!!! Ginny!!!

Ginny and Harriet were just staring at each other for a few seconds when Ginny realized something about Harriet's eyes…those beautiful green eyes looked really, really familiar.

"Harriet, you really look like someone," Ginny said. "Your eyes is just so familiar… like Harry's…"

That was all Harry needed to hear to encourage himself to wake up. "Ginny!" He exclaimed. "It's me!"

"Shut up!" Harriet retorted.

"Excuse me?" Ginny asked, confused.

"Oh no… not you… I was talking to myself…"

"No! Ginny! Help! It's me!" Harry said again.

"What did you say?" Ginny asked.

"No! I said Ginny, sorry for yelping. Oh look at the time! I have to go…"

"Ginny, please… you know it's me! Harry…"

"Draco's waiting! I shouldn't keep him waiting so long…" Harriet interrupted Harry.

"OH OK…" Ginny said as Harriet went out the room hastily.

No! It's no use! She just can't recognize me because of my voice… Harry thought.

"That was weird…" Ginny said to herself. She was looking for Harry when Ron came out from the dorm and into the common room. "Hey Ron, have you seen Harry?"

"No. I barely see him during weekends nowadays…"

"How about Hermione?" Ginny cut in.

"She's in the library since… this morning. I just saw her off. She looked kind of preoccupied. She barely greeted me…"

"OK, OK… I have to go." Ginny went out the common room LEAVING Ron behind wearing a perplexed expression on his face.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Ron asked himself.

"Hermione!" Ginny called.

"Shhh… Silence!" Someone called somewhere. Hermione didn't even looked up to see who called her. She just continued flipping the pages of a book.

"Hermione," Ginny said again, sitting down on a chair next to Hermione. "Hermione, have you see Harry?"

That simple question made Hermione turned her head abruptly to Ginny. "What?"

"I was just asking if you've seen Harry. Is he still sick?"

"He's sleeping in the dorms."

'But Ron just came out of the dorm and I asked him if he saw Harry and he said no…"

"I don't know where he is. Can't you see I'm doing something? This is important. If I don't find it, Ha…"

"Yes?"

"Nothing. Now please, go away and bug someone else," Hermione said politely, but her face didn't show any courtesy at all. She was terribly pre-occupied. Ginny stared at her and notice that Hermione's hand was shaking. At that time, Hermione had turned to her book.

"Hermione, is there something wrong? Is Harry all right? Please can you just tell me?" Ginny asked.

"There's nothing wrong so please…"

"But there is something wrong! Something weird happened when I met Harriet. One minute she's Harriet, the next second, she just said something weird like… I don't get it… she just said, Help…" Ginny almost jumped when Hermione turned her head again to face Ginny.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Of course you do. You're shaking while doing your research seriously… Hermione… please," Ginny persisted. After a long pause, Hermione spoke.

"What have you noticed about Harriet?"

"Well… um… I see her only during weekends and she… she looks like someone…"

"Who? Who does she resemble?"

"Um… She looks like…" Ginny wrinkled her forehead disbelievingly. "Wait… wait a minute…" Hermione just nodded at her.

"Could it be?" Ginny asked. "Could it be that Harriet… omigosh! Their eyes… those green eyes… omigosh…"