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Chapter 14: Explosion

Harry woke up the next morning feeling elated. At that moment he was not Harry Potter, the boy who lived. He was not Harry Potter, Voldemort's nemesis. He was just Harry Potter, the 15-year-old boy who was euphoric at getting his first kiss, especially by a girl that he really liked.

            He jumped out of bed, whistling happily as he pulled on his school robes. Ron eyed him suspiciously. He obviously knew what Harry was so happy about, but chose not to comment. Still feeling extremely cheerful, Harry followed Ron down the steps, to the common room. Both boys surveyed the room, each looking for a particular girl.

            Ron found Hermione first. " Ready to go to breakfast?" Harry heard him ask her, as he continued hi search for Ginny.

            "Sure." Hermione's voice was barley above a whisper and she too seemed a bit preoccupied. Harry stopped looking for a moment to glance at Hermione questioningly. She, however, did not make eye contact with him. Her eyes continued to scan the common room. Harry saw her smile and he followed her gaze to see Ginny coming down the girl's staircase.

            Oh no, Ginny must have told Hermione about last night. Harry thought to himself as Hermione and Ginny shared a knowing grin. He blushed as Hermione's eyes met with his. He really wished that she didn't know about him and Ginny. Hermione raised her eyebrows twice in a suggestive and certainly un-Hermione like manner. She must be picking up Ron's sense of humor. Harry thought. He looked down at his sneakers as Ron and Hermione exited through the portrait hole, down to breakfast. How humiliating, I-

            Harry's thoughts were interrupted by someone's hand interlocking with his. His breath caught in his throat as he looked up to see Ginny smiling at him. He grinned back, suddenly not caring who knew about their relationship. They went down to breakfast, hand-in-hand.

            Harry took a seat by Ron and began to pile sausages onto his plate. He was busy stuffing his face when the mail arrived. Hedwig came swooping down to him with his copy of the Daily Prophet. Another owl, which looked similar to Draco Malfoy's eagle owl, came with a letter. He set the paper aside, and began to rip open the letter.

            Dear Harry,


            Sorry for being unavailable these last couple of months. Remus and I have been busy. It is once again safe to write now. Dumbledore has informed me about your dream and scar pain. I hope that I don't have to remind you to keep constant watch and pay attention to everything that is going on. Strange things have been happening Harry and there is no doubt in my mind that Voldemort will attack openly and viciously before the year is out. I say this not to worry you, but to make sure you don't get too careless.

            I have been doing fine, so don't waste your worries on me. I cannot tell you where I am or what I am doing, but know that you can always come to me when you have a problem. My best to Ron and Hermione.

                                                                                                            Sirius

            Harry smiled at the letter, feeling eager to send a reply. He passed the letter onto Ron and Hermione, being careful to not let Ginny see. With the letter still on his mind, Harry opened the Daily Prophet, surprised to see the front page consumed by one story. The headline read: "Two Ministry Cursebuilders Gone Missing. Mystery Surrounds the Occurrence." Harry scanned the article. The cursebuilders had been missing for two weeks. "Fudge denies reports that this is the work of You-Know Who!" Harry read aloud with extreme indignation. Ron and Hermione looked at him curiously.

            "What is it?" Ron asked him, looking at the Daily Prophet in his hands. By the deadened look in his eyes, Harry could tell that Ron was thinking about the day when the Daily Prophet had brought news of an attack on his parents.

            Harry handed the paper to him. Hermione rested her head on Ron's shoulder to read the article with him. "Dammit!" Ron shouted as he handed the paper to Ginny.

            "Ron!" Hermione scolded, but it seemed out of habit, because she looked furious herself.

            Ron threw his toast back on his plate violently and shook his head. "I can't believe Fudge is still trying to pretend that nothing is going on." He muttered. He raked a hand through his hair and Harry could see lines of worry etched on his face. Hermione's face showed an identical state of nervousness. Ginny looked scared. Harry looked at each one of their faces in turn hoping that he could protect the people he loved.

            He looked down at the paper again wondering if this story had any correlation with the other strange things that had been going on, but he really couldn't see how that would be.

            His cherry disposition had changed to one of sadness as he read about the cursebuilders. They had been fairly young, especially by Wizarding standards. Thirty-eight and forty-two. Both male. Both married. One with three kids, the other with one. Harry felt intense sadness for their families and wondered if the children would ever get to see their fathers again. Not for the first time, a rage began to build up in Harry at the thought of Voldemort and all of the families he had torn apart.

            "C'mon Harry. We better get to Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione reminded him, snapping him out of his trance.

            "Alright. Er…why don't you and Ron go? I'll catch you up in a minute." He said, attempting to look innocent.

            Hermione smiled at him knowingly. "Okay Harry. She tugged Ron along with her, as he kept looking back sending Harry and Ginny funny looks.

            Harry turned to Ginny once he saw that Ron and Hermione had exited the Great Hall. He hugged her gently. "See you later, Gin." He whispered.

            "Bye, Harry. See you at lunch." She flashed him a winning smile and Harry grinned back.

            He jogged to Miss Figg's classroom, hoping that he would not be late. When he walked into the room, he grimaced as he saw Miss Figg already talking to the class.

            "Nice of you to join us Mr. Potter. Something keeping you?" Harry blushed furiously.

            "More like, someone keeping him." Ron said loudly. The class snickered as Harry's face turned so red it resembled a tomato. He glared at Ron, who was smirking. Harry looked at Hermione to see her hand up against her mouth, trying to suppress laughter. He rolled his eyes and took his seat.

            One boring lecture and three pages of notes later, Harry found himself walking towards the potions dungeon with Ron and Hermione at his side. "Why'd you have to go and say that, eh? He asked Ron, referring to his comment in Defense class. He wasn't really mad anymore…it had actually been kinda funny.

            "Hey, Miss Figg left you wide open! It would have been an insult to my sense of humor not to say anything." Harry and Hermione laughed at this.

            "Hey Weasley, Granger!" Harry heard a cold drawl sound from outside the dungeons. He didn't need to look to know whose voice it was.  "I heard about the relationship, congratulations!" He paused and grinned maliciously. "You two belong together. The pauper and the mudblood!"

            Ron's face was turning red, and Harry was pretty sure it wasn't from embarrassment. Ron looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him. Harry was surprised when his friend calmly took a step back and said, "Sod off Malfoy," before turning his back to Malfoy to head into the potions room.

            "I heard about your parents, Weasley!" Malfoy continued, obviously disappointed by Ron's placid reaction. "Your father deserved to die, it's just a pity they didn't get your mothe-" Malfoy stopped abruptly as Ron came charging at him.

            Neither Harry nor Hermione had time to stop him, and really Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to. Malfoy's taunt about Mr. Weasley rang in his ears. Ron was on Malfoy in a second. He tackled him to the ground and got one good punch in before Snape came out to see what all the commotion was about.

            "What's going on here?" He shouted. Harry was amazed to see that Ron did not stop his assault on Malfoy at Snape's appearance. "Weasley! Get off of him!" Ron completely ignored his words and continued to punch Malfoy. Malfoy had begun to fight back as the shock finally wore off. He punched back at Ron ferociously.

            Snape must have decided to take action himself. Harry heard him mutter "Wingardium Leviosa" and point his wand at Ron. Ron flew up in the air. He flailed his arms and legs for a minute before floating still in the air, breathing hard. Snape led him back down to the ground.

            "Do you have an explanation, Mr. Weasley?" Ron remained silent as he stared Snape in the eye. Perhaps he was looking for a hint of compassion that was not there. "I asked you a question, Weasley!" Snape roared.

            Ron muttered something inaudible. "I can't hear you Weasley." Ron looked up at Snape, hatred clearly displayed in his eyes.

"HE INSULTED MY FATHER, WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE DEAD! AND I DON'T CARE HOW MANY POINTS YOU TAKE OFF OF GRYFFINDOR OR HOW MANY DETENTIONS YOU GIVE ME! I'M NOT GOING TO LET HIM TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS! GO AHEAD! YELL AT ME YOU CRUEL HEARTLESS BASTARD!" Hermione gasped at Ron's words. It seemed the entire class was holding its breath. Even Malfoy did not wear his usual smirk. Instead he stared at Ron in what could only be an expression of awe.

Snape seemed to consider Ron for a moment before he said icily, "To Dumbledore's office, Weasley." He turned his head sharply to the class. "Get inside the classroom. Review last weeks notes. I will be with you shortly." Harry followed Hermione into the dungeon silently as Ron pursued Snape.

Harry joined Hermione at a table in the back of the room. She still seemed shocked at Ron's behavior though Harry could hardly blame her. What had happened back there? Ron had finally blown up. Years of Malfoy's taunting had been building up, and the latest gibe about his parents was enough to send Ron over the edge.

"I can't believe what just happened." Hermione said. "I guess Ron finally exploded." Harry nodded in silent agreement. Not much else was said between the two. They were both lost in thought. Snape returned to class ten minutes later, unaccompanied by Ron.

The potions lesson dragged on. All Harry wanted to do was get back to the common room and talk to Ron. When the bell finally sounded, ending the potions lesson, Harry and Hermione ran all the way back up to Gryffindor tower to find Ron sitting in one of the comfy chairs by the fire. They both took seats in chairs beside him. For a while, none of them spoke. After about twenty minutes, it seemed Hermione could no longer stand the silence. "Well?" She asked.

"I only got a detention. Dumbledore said that Malfoy was at fault as well and he would talk to him later, but he reckons I shouldn't have pounced on Malfoy." Ron grinned at them.

Hermione and Harry smiled back at him. "Oh Ron! Your lip is bleeding!" Hermione cried out, leaning over towards him.

"Oh its nothing, really it doesn't hurt. Besides, Malfoy definitely came off worse in that fight." Hermione still looked a tad worried as she examined his lip closely.

            "I'll be back in a minute." She said and rushed out the portrait hole. She returned a minute holding damp cloth. 'This should help." She handed the cloth to Ron who took it gratefully and put it where his lip was hurting him. They watched as he clumsily tried to clean the blood off that was now trickling down his chin. "Oh here, let me do it!" Hermione stated, exasperated at his attempts.

She took the cloth and gently dabbed it on his chin all the way up to his lip. Ron was looking into her eyes and Hermione stopped for a minute looking deep into his. They stared at each other for a few moments. Any more of this and I'm going to vomit. Harry thought disgustedly. Hermione broke their trance, reaching into her robes for her wand. She pointed it at Ron's lip and whispered, " Sealio." The wound sealed up. Ron put a finger to his lip and smiled.

"Your amazing, you know that?" He said so quietly that Harry barely caught the words. They seemed to have forgotten that he was there.

A second later his suspicions were confirmed as Hermione leaned down and kissed Ron. Instead of breaking apart quickly, they seemed to just be getting into it. Annoyed, Harry cleared his throat loudly. Hermione gasped and separated from Ron as quickly as physically possible. Ron let out a groan of protest, but he too just seemed to be noticing Harry's prescence. Both of their faces were red.

"Erm…Sorry Harry." Hermione whispered, obviously very embarrassed.

"Its okay." Harry said grinning. "'Just try to refrain from public displays of affection around me.'"

"I hate having my words quoted back to me." Ron said, grinning.

Once again, they launched into discussion about the day's events in potions. Seamus and Dean joined them and soon the entire house was laughing and patting Ron on the back for a job well done.

"It must have been so satisfying to call Snape a bastard!" Seamus said, gleefully. He rubbed his hands together. "That's going to be my goal. To call Snape a bastard before the end of seventh year." They all laughed, but Harry couldn't help but feel that being Voldemort's main enemy, he might not live to see seventh year.

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