This is the third part of my "Christmas at Hogwarts" -series. And yes, I'm writing more…
"Ron?" Harry asked when he entered the dormitory. "Are you in here?"
There was no answer. The hangings were pulled in front of Ron's bed. "Ron?" Harry asked. "Are you here?"
Harry was just about to pull back the hangings, when Pigwidgeon slipped in through the window, which had been left on gap. He turned his back to Harry, and started to pull in a heavy envelope. He flew towards Harry, struggling with the envelope, flew a little bit higher, and dropped it on Harry's head.
"Ouch! Watch out!" Harry exclaimed. Pigwidgeon didn't care, he just twittered happily. Harry threw a look on the handwriting. "This is from Sirius! But… I sent it with Hedwig. What happened, Pig?"
Pigwidgeon ignored him, and started knocking on the window with his minimal beak. Harry hurried to the window, and opened it a bit more. The wind took hold of it and slammed it open, and in flew a soaking Hedwig, who clapped his beak angrily at Harry.
"I'm sorry, Hedwig," Harry said. He gave the owls a handful of owl treats. "Share them," he said, before leaving the dormitory and walking down the stairs to the common room, where Hermione was still sitting.
"I got the answer from Si… um… Snuffles!" he called to her. He walked over to her, and sat down. "What are you writing?" he asked. Hermione stuffed the piece of parchment, which she had been working on, away. "It's just a letter to Victor," she said and blushed.
"Say hello from me," Harry said. He opened the letter from Sirius.
Hi Harry [it read]
Dumbledore wrote to me, too, so I already knew what had happened. You should stop accusing yourself. I can't say it was right of you to use "Avada Kedavra", but you probably saved Cho's (and your) life with it. Hermione, you're a sensible girl, try to convince Harry of that it wasn't his fault.
You say you didn't mean to use the curse. Dumbledore suggested that it might have to do with your connection to Voldemort. You know his theory about Voldemorts and your connection? I can't say I agree with him completely, but a part of the theory makes sense. Voldemort sure isn't a person that would draw himself from using it, as you know.
You didn't kill Voldemort, and if you had, no one would blame you. Not in those circumstances, nor for killing Voldemort. He said himself, that you couldn't hurt him. He probably knew what he was talking about. You split his concentration, and broke the spell. Voldemort didn't probably even get a headache, Harry. You're not a murderer.
Be very careful. I've always thought Hogwarts the safest place on earth. It probably is, but the world is an unsafe place nowadays. Keep me posted on everything that happens. And Ron and Hermione, keep your eyes open, too. And don't go out after nightfall.
Sirius
"Did it make you feel better?" asked Hermione. Harry shook his head. "It doesn't change anything…"
"There's nothing to change!" Hermione exploded. People stared at her from the other tables at common room. She lowered her voice. "If you don't stop feeling sorry for yourself, I'll have to write to Sirius and ask him to come here. You know very well he will come, if you need him."
Harry glared at her. "You wouldn't!"
"Try me," Hermione said sternly. "I hate being harsh, but you simply refuse to understand. Voldemort is after you, Harry. Stop being so selfish. It doesn't help anyone. If you for a second thought about anyone else, you would see, how stupid you are. You're just like Lockhart, lots of pretty words, but no courage."
"And you're just like Malfoy! Other people have feelings too, Hermione!" Harry shouted back. Hermione bit her lip, and for a moment, none of them spoke. Then Harry said slowly: "I'm sorry. Thanks for showing how stupid I was."
"More than stupid. But I understand. If it had been me, I don't know what I would have done…" Hermione stood up. "I think I'd better go and get some sleep. Good night." Then she suddenly remembered. "Did you see Ron?"
"No, but I think he was in bed already. I can check now, though. He's probably asleep." Harry answered.
"Oh well, goodnight then!"
"Goodnight, Hermione," Harry said, and walked up to the dormitory. He suddenly felt very tired. He changed into his pyjamas and climbed to his bed. Then he realised he hadn't checked on Ron. "He's probably asleep already, and wouldn't want to be woken," he thought before falling asleep.
Cho lay awake, staring at the ceiling. She was thinking about yesterday. The kiss. Harry had kissed her! Harry Potter was in love with her!
She felt a bit guilty. She wasn't exactly in love with Harry. He was nice, but… He was good looking, and clever, too… The best thing about him was, though, that he was Harry Potter. The Harry Potter.
There was something else, though. She had only just recently started to realise exactly how nice and good looking and clever he was. She thought, that if she allowed herself to, she could be falling in love with him.
He had protected her. Cho didn't remember much about what happened in her meeting with Voldemort, but she remembered not one, but two voices shrieking "Avada Kedavra". Harry had risked life sentence in Azkaban for her.
But she remembered something else, too. It was the handsome face of Cedric Diggory, which rose between her and Harry. If it wasn't for him, she might even fall in love…
She didn't want to betray him. She had loved him. She still did. She couldn't just "forget and move on", like everyone said that she should. Well, Harry didn't say that…
Harry understood, he had been there himself. But not even he understood, that she didn't want a new relationship. No one would ever replace Cedric. No one! No one, not the Daily Prophet, nor any other newspaper had told the truth about his death. If she didn't remember, no one would. She couldn't let that happen. She owed him so much. So many happy moments, so many gentle kisses and long discussions about the future… She couldn't let him down!
"Hermione", Ron whispered. He stroke her hand gently. "Hermione, look at me! I love you."
She tried to ignore him. "Stop it, Ron," she said. "We're just friends. Don't make things more complicated."
Ron didn't answer. Slowly he pulled her towards him, and embraced her. She tried to resist, but didn't any longer know why. She couldn't remember… Why wasn't she supposed to let this sweet feeling carry her away?
Their lips met, and they shared their first kiss. The feeling was so sweet. She couldn't understand why she had ever tried to fight it.
Suddenly another face appeared. "Victor!" Hermione cried, her heart beating faster. He just looked at her. "Why?" he asked. "Why, Herm-own-ninny?" His voice sounded sad, and the thick accent highlighted the melancholy of his words.
Suddenly Hermione couldn't understand why she was kissing Ron. "Victor, wait!" she shouted. But he was gone.
Suddenly Ron was gone, too. Hermione was all alone.
Hermione woke with a start. She lay awake a long time, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Victor. She hadn't seen him in such a long time. She finally took out a photo of him, and looked at it. He was waving his hand at her. She finally fell asleep with the photo tightly clutched in her hand.
Parvati tossed and turned on her bed. She couldn't sleep. Over and over she relived the short conversation with Harry in her head. His irritated answers when she had after long hesitation asked him if he wanted to hear what the Tarot-cards would say. She still blushed at the memory, she should have thought about that. Professor Trelawney did predict his death on every lesson, it was true… It wasn't that surprising that he didn't want to hear any predictions.
But Professor Trelawney was right, wasn't she? Harry had almost got killed several times every year that he had been at Hogwarts.
But it still was wrong of Professor to say it to his face. She shouldn't do that. Parvati felt so sorry for Harry, but she didn't know how to show it. And Lavender, her best friend, thought that Professor Trelawney was something of a half-god. Parvati couldn't say anything to her friend, could she?
Parvati was honest enough to herself that she could admit, that she had thought like Lavender, too. But it was ages ago…
She had been so happy while talking to Harry today. She had sat so near him, and they had talked about things, that she could only talk with Padma, and sometimes Lavender, about. She had been so happy, so happy… She had thought, that he had finally understood, how much she cared about him. She had thought, that he felt the same way about her.
Parvati sighed. Harry didn't care about her, he had shown that all too clearly. Why couldn't she just stop loving him? She didn't know. She just had a precaution that they were meant to be.
But why had he asked help from her? Did he think her feelings were something to laugh about? She most certainly didn't feel that way!
Or was he just so stupid, that he hadn't noticed?
It snowed outside. The temperature had sunk, and the heavy, wet snowflakes had turned into smaller, finer flakes, that covered the frozen ground, and the branches of the trees, turning the whole world white. Harry woke up in the middle of the night with a strange feeling, and climbed out of bed. He walked to the window, and looked out. A beautiful, light covering of snow lay everywhere. He yawned, and decided it was best to try to get some more sleep. He turned around, and went back to his bed. When he passed Ron's bed, the window, which hadn't been properly shut, slammed open, and the icy breeze, that came in, blew the hangings away, revealing an empty, untouched bed.
This turned out to be quite a series! More is on the way! Please review, even those who didn't like it! It would be good to know, if it is the worst piece of rubbish you've ever read… Not that I will stop writing then, though…