Chapter 2: Hogwarts

Author's notes: It took me very long to write this chapter, because I suffered from a severe case of writer's blosck. I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting, and I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well. This chapter may seem a bit weird, but I promise you, chapter 3 will bring lots of Sirussy and Spike-y goodness! yummm ;-)

"Hey Harry, watcha reading?"  Ron asked curiously as he entered the common room.

"Letter from Snuffles,"  Harry answered, looking up briefly.  "Where have you been?  I thought we were going to do our homework together." 

Ron looked a bit nervous and started fidgetting around with the hem of his pullover.  "Er...  I've been with Hermione.  She tricked me into letting her put that new charm on me.  You know, the one Professor Flitwick taught us yesterday.  She's a bit too good at it if you ask me..."  He quickly sat down next to Harry and peered at the letter.  "What does Snuffles write?"

Harry had just opened his mouth when the portrait opened again and let Hermione in.  She immediately looked at Ron and grinned.  Then she caught Harry's eye.  She flushed a bright red and looked confused for a moment.  When she saw his letter, however, she regained her composure and walked over.  "Did Snuffles write you again?"  She asked.

Harry nodded.  "Yes.  I was just about to tell Ron what he wrote.  But er... how did that charm you put on Ron go?  Had enough practise to pass the exam?"  He looked at her in amusement as her eyes flashed to Ron in a panic.  Ron nodded lightly, trying to hide it from Harry, but not succeeding.

"Er...  yes, it went very well...  I think,"  Hermione answered as she sat down.

As if I don't know they've been kissing somewhere.  Do they really think they can hide the fact that they're madly in love?  Come on, everyone knows that!

Harry shook his head lightly as he tried to get his thoughts back to the letter.

"Snuffles is asking me if I can find out where his motorbike is.  He needs it back for the job he's doing for Dumbledore, but he can't find it.  He says he lent it to Hagrid on the night my parents were killed."

"But that was fourteen years ago!  Who knows what happened with that bike!"  Hermione cried.

"I think Hermione has a point,"  Ron agreed.  "Even if we can find out where the bike is, who would garantee Snuffles that it is still working?  Or that it is all in one piece?"

"Hagrid isn't the kind of person to throw things away.  I think I'll go visit him tomorrow after school and ask him about it,"  Harry decided.

*~*~*

Later that night, when she was lying in her four-poster, Hermione was tossing and turning.  How could he have made up an excuse like that without telling me about it?  Harry sure noticed something.  Well.... maybe not.  He is a guy after all.  They don't notice a Hippogriff when it's standing right in front of their noses.  But still...  we can't take risks like these.  It'll go wrong one day.  I'd better tell him now.  She got out of bed and put her slippers on.

*~*~*

As soon as his head hit the pillow, Ron groaned inwardly.  I almost ruined it today.  Harry knows.  I can feel it.  I wish Hermione and I had never gone to that classroom together!  Of course Harry asked where I had been.  He's always with us, and notices immediately  when something's wrong.  Still, he did seem to buy the story I fed him.  Maybe he's not so smart after all.  Can't play chess, so he can't be all that smart.   But a situation like this can't arise again.  I'd better talk to Hermione about it.  She'll know what to do.  Better do it now, while everyone's asleep...

*~*~*

She looked around the room.  There was no one to be seen.  Quietly, she sneaked to a large chair by the fireplace.  She could hide there for a moment, to think of a way to wake him up without arising suspicion... or making him scream.  As she was halfway up the stairs, the door of his dormitory opened.  She quickly threw herself off the stairs and behind the chair again.

He felt a jolt of fear when he heard a thump in the common room.  Slowly but steadily, he sneaked downstairs, staying low so whoever it was wouldn't see him.  As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked around.  At first, all he saw in the moonlight were the tables and chairs.  He was about to stand up when his eye fell on a shadow by the chairs near the fireplace.  Determined to make sure the shadow would keep quiet about him, he crawled over, intending to cast a Silencing Spell, or, if needed, a Memory Charm.  He had already raised his wand when he saw a bit of brown, bushy hair.

"Hermione?"  he whispered.

"Ron?"  the shadow whispered back.  As the person behind the chair stood up straight, he could see it was Hermione.  "What are you doing here?"  he asked.

"I was on my way to your dorm. I need to talk to you."

"And I to you."

"I go first."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a lady and ladies always go first."  Ron muttered something under his breath, but Hermione chose to ignore it.

"Ron, don't you ever do something stupid like that again! You almost gave us away this evening!"

"Well I'm sorry, but when Harry asked me where I had been, I couldn't really say 'I was in the Arithmancy classroom, snogging Hermione', could I?  I had to make up something, and I couldn't think of anything else.  Anyhow, he bought it and that's all that matters."

"Maybe so, but it can't happen again.  We can't have anyone find out."

"Why not?  What's so horrible about two people in love?"

"Just think what Malfoy would say if he'd find out."

"Oh.... right.  Good point,"  Ron admitted. 

"So, what are we going to do?"  he asked after several minutes of silence.

"I don't know,"  Hermione said.  "We'll have to think of some sort of sign to warn each other.  I'll think of something and let you know as soon as I found anything useful."

"Okay."

Hermione turned and walked away.  Suddenly she felt she was being dragged back.  "Oh no you don't!  You can't leave me without a good night kiss."  Ron whispered, grinning from ear to ear.

"What if someone sees us?"  Hermione whispered, looking around carefully.

"No one will see.  It's the middle of the night!"  Ron said to persuade her.

"Oh, alright."  She still didn't seem too sure, but when she felt his lips on hers, she could think of none of the dangers that had seemed so important before.  All that mattered was that he was kissing her and that she didn't want him to stop doing just that.  When he finally let go, he smiled at her and winked.  "Well, good night Hermione,"  he whispered hoarsely, before turning around and walking up the stairs.

"Good night,"  she whispered, panting a little.

*~*~*

The first thing Ron heard as he quietly crawled back into his bed was Harry's voice, asking: "So, how was your nighttime snog?"

*~*~*

"Hagrid, are you there?"  Harry asked as he knocked on the door of his friend's cabin.

"Yes, I'm in, one moment 'arry,"  Hagrid's voice came from the other side of the door.  Harry, Hermione and Ron heard some shuffling noises and then the door suddenly opened.

"Hello, come in, all of yeh.  I'll make yeh some tea."

"Thanks, Hagrid,"  Hermione said thankfully and they all went inside.  As soon as they all had greeted Fang and sipped their tea and exchanged the latest news (Harry made Ron and Hermione tell about their relationship, which they did very reluctantly and only after many threatening glares on Harry's side), Harry came to the point.

"Erm, Hargid...  I want to ask you something,"  he said.  "I er...  I heard that Sirius had a motorbike, and that you borrowed it when you brought me to the Dursleys.  I was wondering....  What did you do with it?"

Hagrid almost spit out the sip of tea he had in his mouth.  "Yeh what?  Do?  Me?  I didn't do nothin', you understand me?!"

"Hagrid, calm down, we're not accusing you of anything.  It's just...  I had heard that the motorbike was really special and I would like to see it if you still have it,"  Harry lied.  Whatever happened to the bike, he thought, Sirius would have to get it back himself.

"Well, er...  I can't show you the bike, you see...  it er...  after Black went to Azkaban, it er...  it didn' seem right for me ter keep the bike.  Besides, I wasn't going ter use it after I found out Black wasn't as nice as he had seemed in the beginning, and there was no chance of him comin' back for it."

"What did you do with it?"  Ron asked curiously.

"Well...  I er...  I asked Dumbledore if I could sell it, and I did.  I went to America, and sold it there to a British bloke.  I checked to make sure that he wasn't a wizard, and I asked a very low price.  I was very eager to get rid of it, yeh see."

"Where in America were you exactly?"  Hermione wanted to know.

"In California.  The town had somethig with 'sunny' in it.  I don' remember the exact name."

"We'll go find an atlas, then,"  Harry said.  "Thanks, Hagrid."  He drank all his tea in one gulp, patted Fang on the head, and got up.  "We'd better go back to the castle now, it's getting dark.  We'll see you tomorrow in class, okay Hagrid?  Good night!"  He was out of the door and on his way to the castle before Hagrid could even open his mouth to say something.

"Sorry about Harry, Hagrid,"  Hermione said apologetically,  "he seems to think the bike is very important, and we couldn't make him stop thinking about it.  That's why we're helping now.  The sooner it's over, the better."