After the class, Ron and Hermione were making out in the small break time between Transfiguration and D.A.D.A.. "We better go Ron, **kiss** or we'll be late," Hermione was saying, ruffling his luxurious fiery-red hair
"Ok, **kiss** sure 'Mione," They headed for their
next class, nearly running to make up for the lost time. They couldn't
wait to see how their new teacher would be like.
3_3_3_3_3_3_3_3_3_3
Harry awoke with a splitting headache. He was used to this, having to experience relatively the same thing every time he faced his archenemy, but it still hurt. He slowly rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up with his hands, his eyes closed. After getting over the nearly overwhelming nausea, he got into a sitting position, gently touching his batter face with his hands. He tried to open his eyes. The left one wouldn't open at all, and the right one was blurry. He got dizzy when he looked out of it. "Great, just great," he moaned to himself. It hadn't been that bad when he had woken up, that was for sure. He searched for his glasses, before remembering that Ron had broken them with his punch. He was practically blind, in pain, and late for class. No time for the Hospital Wing now. Standing with immense effort not to puke, he slowly got dressed. He managed to stumble into Defense Against the Dark Arts, no less than an hour late.
Ms. Mariban stood at the front of the class, holding a cage in her hand and was mid-sentence when Harry walked in. He trudged to the back of the class, so less people would see him, but they all stared at Harry's interruption anyways.
"Mr. Potter, I assume?" She sked him. He nodded dumbly. She smiled a charming smile at him and Harry fleetingly wondered how he could have ever thought Cho to be beautiful…but then,
"Congratulations on your near defeat of the Dark Lord last year," she said as she turned back to the board. He instantly thought her to be uglier than Voldermort, and wished he could have disappeared that very instant. He could see Ron to the far left of him growing red with anger. Hermione was trying to calm him down, but it didn't help much. Harry didn't try to encounter Voldermort and live, it just sort of happened. He hated being famous just as much as Ron hated him for being it. He did feel sorry for Ron and didn't mean to be perfect. He tried to sympathize with him, but Ron wouldn't take it.
Throughout Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron shot Harry acid looks, and later in Charms, physically expressed his anger. They had to shoot muggle basketballs into hoops with their wands. Ron's "accidently" kept hitting Harry. Only his nimble Quiddich skills saved Harry from a few hard hits aimed right at his head.
"Quit it, Ron. I know you don't have that bad of aim," he finally said. Ron just sent another ball at his head, missing it by millimeters, and colliding with Neville.
"Oh! I'm sorry Neville! Harry has obviously lost his touch. I'll make sure he doesn't hit you again," he said. Ron had a cynical look in his eyes, and Harry prepared for the worst. Why was Ron becoming so violent and easily angered? Harry had been nice to him ever since he had figured out that Ron was jealous of him. Really, Ron should know better than that and Harry was surprised that Ron's jealousy had lasted for two months already. After class, Ron met him in the hallways, telling Hermione not to wait for him for lunch. He began to roll up his sleeves, showing well-defined muscles and a beautiful tan. His adroit blue eyes were sparkling with inner amusement. Harry knew he had no chance to run, as Ron's unequivocal strength was more than Harry could deal with on any day.
"Time for a face correction…" Ron said. He felt compelled to beat Harry up, but he didn't know why. "Maybe I could rip that stupid scar right off your head…" He advanced at Harry, right arm cocked back and ready to strike, his gorgeous, supreme-in-every-way muscles flexing in anticipation.
"MY GOD MAN! What are you doing?" Harry yelled. Ron's look of glee flickered for an instant.
"Giving you what you deserve, Potter," said a drawing voice to the left of them. Ron and Harry turned to ind Draco. "Keep going, Weasley, I'll even help."
"Bug-off Malfoy," Ron spat, temporarily forgetting Harry in order to battle his life-long foe. Ron turned to face Draco, stretching to his full height, his broad shoulders straitening and aligning with his perfectly formed back. Draco actually looked intimidated, Harry noticed. Draco, unlike Harry, had stayed a short, scrawny thing all throughout his schooling. His dad being so tall of course, this didn't make sense. Unless Lucius wasn't Malfoy's real father…
"Rats, and I though you had finally decided to ditch this Potter filth." Malfoy walked off, Harry and Ron glaring after him in mutual loathing. Ron turned to Harry, still glaring.
"Bye," he said curtly. And with that, Ron stalked
off to breakfast, leaving Harry to ponder why Ron had begun to betray him
so.
**-***-***-***-***-***-***-**
Hermione walked alone to lunch. Ron had said not
to wait for him. She began to get worried, for Harry's sake. She knew that
Ron's strong body (she knew every curve…) could bend Harry's easily (she
didn't know his, but Harry didn't work our over the summer like Ron did
^-^). It had been ten minutes since she had last talked to him. Hermione
was seriously considering leaving on the Student Transfer Program. She
really wanted to go, first of all, and she thought it could do Ron some
good if they were apart for a while. She wandered back to where they had
talked earlier. He wasn't in sight. She sighed. What was wrong with Ron?
**-***-***-***-***-***-***-**
That night, the dreams began. Ron went to bed late, expecting the sweet rejuvenation of sleep, but he was instead bombarded with strange images. He couldn't make out what they were, just colored blobs that would move and flicker. He could occasionally hear a humming noise that would raise and fall in volume and pitch. It kept happening, every night becoming more and more distinct. Every time he would wake up suddenly, being dizzy, disoriented, and felling like he hadn't slept at all. Rings began to form under his eyes. It took him longer and longer to get himself out of bed. He began to get concerned when he couldn't even get himself to wake-up. He felt like he was barely in control of his body and had to make a huge effort just to conquer sleep and return from his dreams.
Ron's dreams became more and more vivid. He could now make out the blobs. They were himself and Harry most of the time. Most of the dreams must have happened, because he remembered most of the situations. He would see himself and Harry arguing and fighting most of the time. Sometimes he would even see things that had happened years ago; Harry hiding from all the kids that wanted his autograph when he had won the Tri-Wizards Cup, Harry denying that he enter his name into the Goblet of Fire, and even the picture of Harry and Gilderoy Lockhart in the newspaper. Then there were the things Ron didn't remember. Like a vision of Harry tiptoeing across the age-line and putting his name in the Goblet of Fire... Like Harry laughing to Hermione about how poor Ron was and how funny his house looked... Harry at his Gringotts bank account, rolling over in gold and laughing about how Ron couldn't even stand on top of all his family's money combined, the stack would be too small. He began to become late for his classes, and would have a hard time concentrating an hour or so after he had woken up. He even went to the Hospital Wing, to get a dreamless sleep potion, but Mrs. Pomfrey didn't give that stuff out freely to students.
He blamed Harry for his nightmares, not knowing whom else to blame. He didn't even consider that Voldermort would be involved at all. Or that Wormtail could have snuck into his dorm and put a Cursed Sleep spell on his bed. Or that some strange potion's vapor cloud had invaded his body and mind, altering his way of thinking? He wouldn't even dream (Voldie made sure of that) of being controlled by Voldermort in the slightest. Of course, how would he ever know if Voldermort wouldn't let him find out?
**-***-***-***-***-***-***-**
_.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-._.-`'-.___.o0
Ok, yea. Next chapter will come soon. I've just hit writer's block
and am considering changing the whole story… NE-Ways… It *should* get a
better plot by next chapter. Harry….uh…Hmm. How should I say this without
killing the suspense for the next (or the one after that, not sure yet)
chapter? Well, Harry has a brush with death thx to Ron & Voldie…