Chapter eighteen

Feasible Feelings

They must have spent a long time wondering that night, because they all woke up in the common room the next morning. Ron had fallen on the floor in his sleep and had his arms and legs spread out every which way. It looked like he had fallen like that from a tall building. Ginny and Harry had been laying in opposite directions on the same couch, so Harry was holding Ginny's foot like a teddy bear, while Ginny was half over the armrest on the other side. Hermione had woken up early and was lucky enough to have time to straighten herself up before everyone else woke up and saw them like this. No one else knew it, but she had been under the chair cushion. How she got there was a complete mystery, and no one would ever find out. She sat on the chair, watching them in amusement, waiting either for them to wake up, or for everyone to come downstairs and see them in their beautiful sleep.

Ginny woke up first when she slid off the armrest and hit her head on the floor. Harry, subconsciously noticing the absence of his "teddy" foot, woke up next. Hermione suppressed her laughter and Ginny fought her way off the floor and back onto the chair. Harry smirked as he noticed Ron's spread eagle and quickly woke him up. Just then, everyone was descending their respective staircases and entering the common room. They hadn't seen their previous positions, but they could still well assume that they had spent the night together.

"Oooh, looks like they're at it again, this time they've Harry and Ginny along for the fun..."

"Seems to be getting a little rowdy down here, eh guys?"

The three of them blushed while Hermione laughed deviously. They hadn't caught her that time! Or had they...

"Hermione, don't think you got away with this, we all know you were down here sleeping as well!"

She could feel her face turn red, and now all four of them were blushing like mad. They knew that if they ran away, it would only make things worse, so they could only sit there in their own embarrassment and wait for everyone to leave. You would think that they would be used to this sort of thing by now...

Finally everyone had left, and they had all decided that they had pretty much lost their appetites. Instead, the four crusaders spent the day in the common room, examinig their presents. Harry was curled up in a chair, reading his father's journal, and at the really funny parts he would read out loud to the rest of them. Hermione sitting on the floor, still skeptical about the veritability of her mirror. She had never believed in those sorts of things, but then again, perhaps now was the time to start. She kept fiddling with it, waiting for it to stop swirling from the last time to make it swirl again. Ginny had gone to the library and returned with a book describing the twelve uses of dragon's blood. Of course, they had learned them years ago, but none of them could remember what they were--Hermione remembered five of them, but even her memory was a little rusty--and now that Ginny had some, she should plenty well know what it does. And, over in the corner of disappointment, sat Ron, against the wall, staring at his key. There was no way I'll be able to find a use for this, he kept thinking pessimistically to himself. He did acknowledge its intricate beauty, but still, it was a key. Everyone else had received such obviously useful gifts, but Ron's had no visible significance. Ron figured he might look up the design of the key and see if he could maybe find what it opened. He went to the library and looked for something on designs. He came back with a large, stained book and plopped it into his lap.

By the end of the day, he had looked through every page of that book, but found nothing. Now he even felt animosity towards the key, more than when he first got it. He figured he could get Hermione's help with researching it, she was always good at that stuff. Speaking of Hermione, he had been knowingly keeping her in the back of his mind for the whole day. About that kiss, her locking him in the closet, that kiss, holding his hand on the way back to the common room, that kiss, coming to sleep in his bed afterwards, and that kiss...possibly one of the greatest moments of his entire life. He remembered every little thing that led up to it, and everything that happened afterwards, but his memory of what happened in between was blurred by a rush of blood to the head. It was all just so intense and incredible that he couldn't recall any specific thought that was running through his head during that time. He assumed the worst in that Hermione had forgotten all about it, and if she hadn't, then it didn't make a difference either way, because she didn't care for him that way. He convinced himself that it they were just a spur of the moment things and that, under normal circumstances, it would have never happened. They just happened to be madly in love with each other, that's all. No big deal.

Hermione had been thinking about Ron all day. It was so cute how he had been spread out on the floor in his sleep. Even though she was interested in her present, she couldn't help thinking about their kiss...She decided that, in an effort to distract herself, she would keep looking into the mirror and see what events would take place in the "near future," but even then she found herself trying to see things that involved Ron. She wondered how he felt about the kiss, and decided to talk to him about it when more people cleared out of the common room. Meanwhile, she watched him play with his key and couldn't help but chuckle when he tried to eat it out of frustration. She would be glad to help him figure out what it went to, if only he would ask.

Thanks for all the reviews, please keep reading! I appreciate your time and consideration! (there I go sounding all adult and corporate…sorry!) anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! The next one's coming tomorrow!