Thursday
It was a clearer morning than it had been before, and although there was a fresh wind ripping through the trees outside, the Gryffindors in the tower could only see the cloudless sky. It put most of them in a good mood. However, Ron was not one of those, which was evident as he sunk down in an armchair opposite Harry and grumbled, 'Hermione isn't talking to me.'
'Why?' Harry asked dutifully.
'Oh, it was that kissing thing yesterday… she heard me telling Fred and George that I, well, wasn't going out with her, and she got all moody! Honestly, I don't get her sometimes…' He shook his head.
'Right,' said Harry, not sure whether he should be honest or just agree with Ron. His friend's moods were sometimes difficult to gauge. He opted for changing the subject. 'You know Andromeda?'
'It's a star or something, isn't it?'
'No, Andromeda the girl,' Harry said. 'Slytherin, quite short, dark brown hair, blue eyes, clumsy…'
'Oh, the one that ran into me,' said Ron with a smirk.
'Yeah, her.'
'Well? What about her?'
'Oh, I was just working with her yesterday, that's all. She seems really nice.'
'Oh yeah?' Ron raised an eyebrow, something he was obviously not very good at as it caused him to make a very uncomfortable-looking face. 'Nice in what way?'
Harry blushed. 'I shouldn't have brought it up,' he said.
'Oh, you can't back out now! Nice in what way?'
'Lots of ways,' Harry mumbled. 'No! It's just, she's friendly, and clever, and quite funny, and she's got nice eyes…'
'What about Cho Chang?'
'What about her?' Harry was surprised to find that he did not automatically turn red at the mention of Cho's name.
'It must be love,' said Ron, trying to raise his eyebrow again and looking as though he had something stuck in his throat. 'So when did you find this out?'
'We did History of Magic homework in the library yesterday, while you and Hermione were snogging.'
'WE WERE NOT SNOGGING!' said Ron, startling a group of first-years who were playing Gobstones in a corner. 'Anyway, that's not the point, are you going to ask her out?'
'What? No! Not yet! I don't even know if I like her that way…'
'It sounds like that to me, mate.'
'And she probably doesn't like me.'
'Harry, are you joking? You're the Boy Who Lived. You're famous. And also fairly rich. Plus, you've got dark hair and rather interesting green eyes, which girls seem to like, judging by the response for the Yule Ball last year. And – no freckles.'
'Shut up,' said Harry. 'Anyway, Hermione doesn't seem to mind freckles.'
Ron whacked him with a cushion. 'Don't you start. I've had it up to here with people asking me if I'm going out with Hermione. It's a ridiculous idea! Can't anybody see that?'
'Then why was she so bothered yesterday?'
Ron looked confused. 'I don't know. I wish I did. Why do girls have to be so difficult?'
Harry didn't comment, but privately, he would have liked an answer to that question himself.
