Hello, sorry about the lateness of the part. School caught up to me-
projects, semester exams, etc. Then the computers all conspired against me
and wouldn't let me type it after it was written. This was originally going
to be one part, but it got too long so split it up into two parts. Hope you
enjoy this one!
*****
Counterpart Chapter 5-Hogsmeade By KZerina
Hermione opened her eyes slowly. She yawned and lifted her head from its rhythmic pillow. At first she had forgotten that she fell asleep on Harry and startled herself, but then she remembered and smiled and gave him a hug that caused him to stir. She nestled her head back into Harry's shoulder. Harry took a deep breath and groaned. Hermione felt a hand rub her shoulder gently. She looked up into Harry's smiling face.
She returned the smile and slid up and kissed him on the lips.
"What was that for?" Harry asked surprised.
"You saved my life didn't you?" she replied. "You deserve it."
Harry looked away as his cheeks flushed a light pink. Hermione giggled and hugged him.
"I was just coming to wake you two," Madam Pomfrey said with a smile and a raised eyebrow at the two students in one bed.
Hermione recoiled back into Harry who looked at her, wondering what she was doing. He knew Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have a problem with it, or he wouldn't have offered.
"Don't worry, dear, I saw it all. I heard you crying and came out to see if I could help, but by then, Harry had gotten it under control."
Hermione looked at Harry. His cheeks were pink, though she wasn't sure if he had just turned or was still that way.
"Ron came by a bit ago. He was looking for Harry. You should have seen his face when he saw you two so close together," the nurse laughed. "It was priceless."
"I can only imagine," Harry said. "Too bad you didn't have a camera."
"Yes, well. You two have a choice. You may stay here and I'll have food brought up for you, or you may go to the Great Hall and have breakfast there. Go ahead and talk about it. I'll be right back."
Both students sat up. Harry kept his hand on the small of Hermione's back, continuing to offer comfort if she needed it. Hermione wasn't about to complain. Harry could be as close as he could possibly get to her, and she wouldn't complain. She leaned back into Harry and laid her head on his shoulder. Harry shifted to a more comfortable position and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"So, here or the Great Hall?" he asked.
"Great Hall. I think we owe Ron an explanation."
Harry nodded his agreement when Madam Pomfrey bustled back over to them carrying a goblet, which she handed to Harry. It contained a smooth, yellow potion.
Harry made a disgusted face at it. "Do I have to?"
"What do you think?"
"Thought so," Harry sighed. "Well bottoms up." He tipped the cup and his head back and dumped the liquid down his throat. When he brought it down, he looked like he was about to be sick, but with a few deep breaths, he was fine. He handed the goblet back to Madam Pomfrey who whisked it away.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. It's supposed to help stiffness. For the most part, I've only found it to be disgusting with a tiny bit of relaxation for my muscles, but I don't argue with Madam Pomfrey. It's not worth it."
Hermione smiled and leaned back on Harry again.
When the nurse returned, she bore two packs of clothes, one Harry's, one Hermione's. She handed each the appropriate set, which the students put on privately. When fully dressed, Harry and Hermione headed off to the Great Hall for breakfast.
When they arrived, they found Ron sitting with the other fifth year boys, his brothers, and Lee Jordan. Harry sat next to Ron and Hermione next to Harry.
"They were right next to each other! In the same bed! They'd been ready to tear each other apart for the past two weeks."
Ron was talking to his company at breakfast. All six of his addressees snorted a laugh, having seen Harry and Hermione sit down.
"It's not funny!" Ron scolded. "Okay, so it's kind of funny, but it's weird!"
"What's weird?" Harry asked innocently, knowing full well of what his friend was speaking.
Ron jumped sky high, knocking over his goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Oi, Ron! Watch where you're flinging your hands! I took a shower this morning. I don't need a bath, too, especially not in your pumpkin juice!" exclaimed one of the Weasley twins, waving his wand at the orange liquid flowing across the table towards him.
"So, Ron, what was weird?" Harry repeated.
"Yeah, Ron, what was weird?" Hermione added, also knowing exactly what was weird, having heard enough of the conversation to comprehend.
"Hi, Harry, Hermione," Ron all but squeaked.
"Hello, Ron. Now, for the third time, what was weird?"
"Ron, you git," George said.
"Can't you tell they know?" Fred asked his quivering brother.
Ron shrank back with a nervous grin on his face. "They do?"
Everyone around him nodded, excluding Harry and Hermione. Ron looked over at them and swallowed hard. They weren't quite sure why he was worried, but it was rather amusing to see him squirming like this.
"You know?"
Harry and Hermione nodded in unison, both with the same strange smirk on their face. Ron swallowed again and paled, making his freckles stand out horribly.
Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Hermione did also. Soon the contagious action spread to Ron's original six companions. Ron was suddenly confused and his face completely showed it, creating an even funnier image with more inevitable laughs.
Leaving Ron confused, Seamus asked, "So does what Ron explained to us mean anything, or is Ron just out of his mind?"
"He's out of his mind," both Harry and Hermione answered simultaneously, causing themselves to laugh.
"Were you actually in the same bed?"
"Yeah," Harry responded, "but nothing happened except for regular old sleeping. I don't know about her, but I was too tired to do anything else, even eat, which I'm going to do now."
With that, Harry spooned food onto his plate and ate quickly, yet not so fast as to disgust the people around him. Hermione smiled, knowing what happened and why he was stuffing his face, while the other boys looked at him strangely, naïve to the events of the past two weeks.
Ron, finally regaining himself, asked, "So what was actually going on down there in the Hospital Wing? I mean, it's weird. For the past two weeks, you two were like predators fighting over territory or something; then suddenly you two were sharing the same bed!"
"I never fought with Harry, especially not like you just described it."
"What's wrong with you? Do you have amnesia?"
"No, I've never fought with Harry."
"Then what do you call the past two weeks?"
"Not Harry."
"What do you mean 'not Harry'? He was sitting right next to me every morning," Ron argued.
"Actually, I was lying on a horribly, lumpy and uncomfortable bed in a disgusting cell with food that I wasn't about to eat sitting on the floor beside me," Harry explained to a very confused Ron. "That's why I'm so thin and eating so quickly."
"Stop the joke. You look fine to me. You aren't skin and bones."
Harry untucked his shirt partway and showed Ron the lower half of his ribs, which were still blatantly showing. Very seriously, he looked back up at Ron whose face was full of shock.
"It's not a joke, Ron. I've told you the part of the story that I am authorized to tell you. The rest is not for here and for Hermione to tell if she wants. Now, if you two would please stop arguing over me," Harry said in a tone that meant the conversation was over.
Hermione gave Ron a smug look and was tempted to stick her tongue out, but refrained from doing so since she was more mature than that, and she didn't want to receive a glare from Harry.
Ron continued to stare at Harry in disbelief at what he had been shown. He swallowed and seemed as though his appetite had left completely, an unusual occasion for Ron.
"Ron," a twin said, "you're not eating. Are you all right?"
Ron nodded slowly, but dazed. "Not hungry."
The other boys stared in astonishment. Harry and Hermione looked on seriously, knowing he felt guilty at not recognizing the problem.
"Ron," Hermione said gently, "It wasn't all your fault for not knowing. The clone put a memory charm on you in the owlery. That time you mentioned our fighting. If you'd been suspicious before, it was all erased."
"That doesn't excuse me. I had another week to recognize it, and I didn't. I feel like such an idiot."
"And who's to say he hadn't put more on you?" Hermione added, "Ones that none of us know about."
"It's all right, Ron," Harry assured. "He had to have been good for them to at least attempt to pull it off. That's why I sent Hermione a hint. It turns out she already knew, but I wasn't sure how it was going here."
Ron looked up at Harry.
"You're fine. I just didn't want you two arguing. It gets annoying after a while."
"But you're starved!"
"That's why I'm eating now. I'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks or so. Don't worry about it."
"I still don't have an appetite," Ron said, pushing his plate away and leaning on the table. "I feel so guilty. I should have known."
Harry only sighed at Ron. "If you're not going to eat that, I will. No sense wasting it," Harry said, motioning to Ron's rejected plateful of breakfast food.
"Go ahead."
"Thanks," Harry replied, eating the last of what was on his plate and placing Ron's upon it.
Just as Harry was about to put his fork in his mouth, his face almost became full of scrambled egg. He had been accosted from behind by someone who was apparently overjoyed to see him, judging by the high-pitched squeal that accompanied the ecstatic embrace.
"You're back! You're back! You're back!"
"Ginny, get off, please," Harry wheezed as he was still a bit achy. "Yes, I'm back. I'm glad you've figured that out."
"Well, Hermione was sitting with you, not me, so I knew things were back to normal, if you can call this normal," Ginny explained, gesturing towards a depressed Ron. "What happened to your plate? Did you eat it, too?"
Ron pointed at Harry.
"Why's he eating your plate?"
"Not my plate, my food. I'm not hungry."
"You? Not hungry? Who'd have ever thought he'd give up food?"
"Shut up, Ginny. You'd lose your appetite, too."
"Yeah, sure," she mocked.
Harry had continued to eat, ignoring Ron and Ginny-that is until he felt a cold brush of air on his back. Harry whipped around and smacked Ron's hand away. He smoothed his shirt and glared at Ron for lifting it.
"Okay, Ron, you're right," Ginny said, a bit unnerved. "What did they do to you, Harry? You're skin and bones."
"By choice," he replied. "They gave me food and got angry when I wasn't going to eat it. I didn't know. It could have been poisoned."
"We're not hungry either," the twins said simultaneously in the same unnerved tone as was in Ginny's voice.
"I'll eat that, too."
"Be our guest."
"Harry," Hermione said, "if you eat too much, you're going to make yourself sick."
"You try starving yourself for two weeks."
"No thanks. I've seen the results. I know there are some girls who would kill to be that thin, but I'm not one of them."
Harry smiled. "Good."
"You're sure there's nothing going on?"
"Yes!" both Harry and Hermione said too quickly to sound believable to anyone but themselves. The others exchanged suspicious glances and left it at that.
When Harry finished the contents of Ron's and the twins' plates, the group got up and went to Gryffindor Tower. Once there and in the fifth year boys' dormitory, everyone but Harry urged Hermione to tell her part of the story that Harry wouldn't tell them. She was very reluctant to do so. It had been a traumatizing experience, and if it hadn't been for Harry's willingness to comfort her the previous night, she would have made herself very sick. She didn't really want to retell it.
She flopped back on Harry's bed, gaining a strange look from Harry since she had lain back on his knees. She shifted to be more comfortable, earning an even stranger look.
"You aren't being very supportive."
"It's your decision. Whatever you decide, I'll support that, but other than that, there nothing much I can do. Now, lying on my shins can't be very comfortable. I'm more than willing to share the actual mattress if you'd prefer."
Hermione smiled sheepishly and a small flush touched her cheeks as she sat up. Harry slid over a bit, and Hermione leaned beside Harry against his upright pillow.
"I think not," she told Harry quietly. "Ron'll freak even more, and I don't really want everyone else to know."
"That's fine. I know the feeling. I'll do what I can to make them leave you alone. 'Kay?"
Hermione nodded. "Not now. I just want to let things work themselves out of my system first. I don't want to breakdown in the middle of the story."
"But, Hermi-"
Ron stopped in mid-sentence as he received a glare from Harry. He smiled sheepishly and shut his mouth for a while.
"Thank you."
Hermione leaned her head on Harry's shoulder in gratitude. He smiled and comfortingly put his arm around her shoulders. The others looked at them and stifled laughs. Harry rolled his eyes at them.
"It has to do with the story that she doesn't want to tell. Now those males who do not sleep in this room can go away unless you're here for something other than her story." He looked pointedly at Fred and George who got up and left.
Seamus and Dean relaxed on their beds and eventually fell asleep. Hermione made Ron do his homework and proceeded to teach Harry what he'd missed while the clone was taking his classes. They went to lunch and dinner, played chess and Exploding Snap.
At one point, Professor McGonagall entered the Tower, searching for Harry and Hermione.
"You two do realize that you must return to the Hospital Wing, tonight, don't you?"
"Since when?" Harry asked. "She let us go this morning. I thought she let us out until we got injured or sick again."
"It would seem not, Harry. At ten o'clock you need to be back there. She wants you to spend tonight there, just in case."
"Oh, all right," Harry confirmed as the Professor left. "We've got about an hour," he told Hermione who nodded.
The three continued to play chess for the next half and hour or so and even together, Harry and Hermione couldn't beat Ron once.
They both stuffed pajamas and a set of clothes for the next day into their school bags and headed down to the Hospital Wing for the night after saying goodbye to Ron.
Madam Pomfrey greeted them as they arrived and had them change for bed. Harry, who had donned a pair of gray sweatpants and a white, sleeveless t- shirt, was dressed first. Madam Pomfey gave him another goblet of the smooth, yellow potion that supposedly helped his aches. He downed it willingly and climbed into bed.
Hermione had climbed into bed as well, but after the nurse had gone to bed, she got up and jumped from one foot to the other across the cold stone floor over to where Harry was sleeping. She gently nudged him. His body tensed as he quickly woke, startling Hermione. Harry relaxed and apologized as soon as he realized it was Hermione.
"It's okay. You just surprised me, that's all," she explained. "So, um, I was wondering if I could, um, you know.."
"Stay here again tonight?"
Hermione nodded, blushing. Luckily for her, it was dark so he hadn't seen her face.
"Of course. As long as you need to."
Hermione was surprised, not because he was letting her stay that night, but that she could stay as long as she needed, or wanted, since he wouldn't know why she was there with him. She knew she shouldn't do that to him, but the temptation was high. She wanted to be close to him. She knew she might eventually have to tell him how she felt, but she'd deal with that when it came down to it.
Harry shifted over, and Hermione climbed in with him. Once she was settled, Harry moved in closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. Hermione snuggled back into him, and he didn't budge, except to shift into a more comfortable position, but not any farther from her.
There she fell asleep-warm, comfortable, and secure in Harry's arms.
Harry kept true to his offer. Even after they were out of the Hospital Wing, she was able to stay with him in the boys' dormitory.
The first night out, she honestly tried to sleep in her own bed. She tossed and turned and tried to get comfortable, and when she finally fell asleep, she woke up from a nightmare. She sighed heavily and grabbed her robe. Fortunately, the boys were up later than they should have been.
Hermione gently knocked on the door. She heard a bit of arguing before the door finally opened. Harry stood behind it, his brows knitted in concern.
"You okay?"
Hermione looked at her feet and shook her head. She went right to Harry and leaned against him, tears silently leaking onto his chest. Harry put his arm around her and caressed her back with a soft touch that she didn't know could come from him.
"You can still stay here if it would help."
Hermione nodded. "I'd like that. Thanks."
Harry smiled and led her into the room. At first they got strange looks from Harry's dorm mates, but once they saw the tears on her cheeks, they knew what was happening.
Harry led Hermione to his bed and sat her down there. He wiped her tears away with his hand and told her to get comfortable. As she did, Harry climbed in behind her.
***
At the end of the week was a Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione told Harry about Sirius's visit. He became a little annoyed that she hadn't told him sooner, but she explained that in all the commotion, when it came to her, there wasn't a chance to tell him and when there was a chance to tell him, he wasn't there to tell.
All Harry did was smile. She had explained all of the situation very quickly, and it was quite amusing when she did so.
"Hermione," Harry said, "don't freak. I understand. Let's just go."
"Oh. All right. Just let me grab some stuff."
Harry waited in the common room for Ron and Hermione and when they both arrived, the trio headed to the nearby wizarding village.
Ron was heading off to Zonko's, but stopped when he was nearly choked by his grabbed collar.
"Ah! What was that for?"
"We're shopping later," Harry replied. "We have someone to meet right now."
"What? Since when? Who?"
"We have someone to meet. Hermione made the appointment while I was gone, and I hope you can figure out who it is. Come on."
Ron remained confused as they approached the gate where they were to meet Sirius. A low growl met their ears. They looked forward and a large, black dog glared at Harry with bared teeth.
Sirius hopped the fence and separated Harry from the other two. Harry was very surprised. He looked from Sirius to Hermione. Hermione moved between Harry and Sirius.
"Snuffles, it's okay. It's him. It's Harry-the real one. He's back. The clone is gone-for good. It's all right."
Sirius looked suspiciously at Harry and slowly stalked forward and sniffed Harry's hand. He nudged it gently with his cold, wet nose. Harry slowly moved his hand and rubbed Sirius's head between the ears.
Sirius's ears rose as he looked up at Harry. He jumped up and tackled Harry to the ground with his large paws on Harry's chest and tongue lapping at Harry's face.
"Hey! Snuffles! Stop! Let me up!"
Sirius immediately sat next to Harry who was wiping his face with his sleeve. Harry smiled and hugged his godfather around his furry neck.
"Come on. Let's go up there," Harry said, indicating the cave in which Sirius would hide while he was near Hogwarts.
Once they arrived, Sirius transformed and pulled Harry into an enormous hug of relief. Harry felt like Mrs. Weasley was hugging him after a summer with the Dursleys.
"I'm so glad you're okay! They didn't hurt you did they?"
"No, Sirius. They needed me for something," Harry choked in reply. "And, Sirius.could you let go? It's a little hard to breathe like this."
Sirius jumped back at once and apologized profusely.
"It's all right. Oh, here." Harry pulled out a sack and handed it over to his godfather.
"What is it?" Sirius set the parcel on the ground and opened the drawstring top. Inside was food-real food. "Thanks, Harry."
Sirius ate a bit of the food and offered to wander Hogsmeade with them, as a dog of course. The trio accepted, and they went back and forth through the town, Sirius occasionally getting scratched behind the ears, a long petting, or even someone playing with him while Harry, Ron, and Hermione went into a store, though if they didn't have to, they never left Sirius outside by himself.
Once they ran into Draco who took one look at Harry and noted that he had a large, black, furry companion, who looked very menacing, and high-tailed it in the other direction, leaving laughing Gryffindors and a barking dog in his wake of dust.
****
Notes to my reviewers:
Nymoue: Really sorry it took so long. I didn't mean for it to take nearly as long as it did at all! Thanks for the wonderful second review. Please wait for the last chapter that is mostly written already.
Harry and Hermione's Daughter: I guess the fight turned out as I hoped. Thanks. There's more H/H stuff like that in the next one, too. Oh, and thanks for the reassurance of time! It's much appreciated.
Coconut-ice agent h/h: I know it's disgusting but that sets the mood and sets up for the cute stuff. It's nice to know that it was good-"a joy to read" may be going a little far, but.whatever floats your boat.
Gaheris: Glad I could help!
XT-Zealot: I guess a super saiyan would be more painful, wouldn't it? Hee, hee. I could have done that, but it would have been very odd to randomly have a super saiyan pop out of the middle of nowhere. Out of curiosity, would the clone have disintegrated?
JediHermione: *STORY SPOILER* It ends with a stupid comment from Ron and things being flung across the room. It's not a major spoiler or anything, but oh well.
Moonlight: Sweet is good! I apologize for lateness. As I explained before, computer strike and homework overload. Hope this and the next chapter are full of enough sweet for you.
Mesozoic Flower: No signed review? Oh, well. Yes, there's more.still. Don't freak. It's quite hazardous to your health, and I don't want to deal with that at school. LOL.
So thanks to all of my reviewers! I shall e-mail you in hopefully about a month or so (that's after my 8-15 page research paper is due) with an update! I hope you can wait that long. The next chapter is mostly H/H fluffy stuff so stay tuned if that's what you want.
Thanks, KZerina ^..^
*****
Counterpart Chapter 5-Hogsmeade By KZerina
Hermione opened her eyes slowly. She yawned and lifted her head from its rhythmic pillow. At first she had forgotten that she fell asleep on Harry and startled herself, but then she remembered and smiled and gave him a hug that caused him to stir. She nestled her head back into Harry's shoulder. Harry took a deep breath and groaned. Hermione felt a hand rub her shoulder gently. She looked up into Harry's smiling face.
She returned the smile and slid up and kissed him on the lips.
"What was that for?" Harry asked surprised.
"You saved my life didn't you?" she replied. "You deserve it."
Harry looked away as his cheeks flushed a light pink. Hermione giggled and hugged him.
"I was just coming to wake you two," Madam Pomfrey said with a smile and a raised eyebrow at the two students in one bed.
Hermione recoiled back into Harry who looked at her, wondering what she was doing. He knew Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have a problem with it, or he wouldn't have offered.
"Don't worry, dear, I saw it all. I heard you crying and came out to see if I could help, but by then, Harry had gotten it under control."
Hermione looked at Harry. His cheeks were pink, though she wasn't sure if he had just turned or was still that way.
"Ron came by a bit ago. He was looking for Harry. You should have seen his face when he saw you two so close together," the nurse laughed. "It was priceless."
"I can only imagine," Harry said. "Too bad you didn't have a camera."
"Yes, well. You two have a choice. You may stay here and I'll have food brought up for you, or you may go to the Great Hall and have breakfast there. Go ahead and talk about it. I'll be right back."
Both students sat up. Harry kept his hand on the small of Hermione's back, continuing to offer comfort if she needed it. Hermione wasn't about to complain. Harry could be as close as he could possibly get to her, and she wouldn't complain. She leaned back into Harry and laid her head on his shoulder. Harry shifted to a more comfortable position and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"So, here or the Great Hall?" he asked.
"Great Hall. I think we owe Ron an explanation."
Harry nodded his agreement when Madam Pomfrey bustled back over to them carrying a goblet, which she handed to Harry. It contained a smooth, yellow potion.
Harry made a disgusted face at it. "Do I have to?"
"What do you think?"
"Thought so," Harry sighed. "Well bottoms up." He tipped the cup and his head back and dumped the liquid down his throat. When he brought it down, he looked like he was about to be sick, but with a few deep breaths, he was fine. He handed the goblet back to Madam Pomfrey who whisked it away.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. It's supposed to help stiffness. For the most part, I've only found it to be disgusting with a tiny bit of relaxation for my muscles, but I don't argue with Madam Pomfrey. It's not worth it."
Hermione smiled and leaned back on Harry again.
When the nurse returned, she bore two packs of clothes, one Harry's, one Hermione's. She handed each the appropriate set, which the students put on privately. When fully dressed, Harry and Hermione headed off to the Great Hall for breakfast.
When they arrived, they found Ron sitting with the other fifth year boys, his brothers, and Lee Jordan. Harry sat next to Ron and Hermione next to Harry.
"They were right next to each other! In the same bed! They'd been ready to tear each other apart for the past two weeks."
Ron was talking to his company at breakfast. All six of his addressees snorted a laugh, having seen Harry and Hermione sit down.
"It's not funny!" Ron scolded. "Okay, so it's kind of funny, but it's weird!"
"What's weird?" Harry asked innocently, knowing full well of what his friend was speaking.
Ron jumped sky high, knocking over his goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Oi, Ron! Watch where you're flinging your hands! I took a shower this morning. I don't need a bath, too, especially not in your pumpkin juice!" exclaimed one of the Weasley twins, waving his wand at the orange liquid flowing across the table towards him.
"So, Ron, what was weird?" Harry repeated.
"Yeah, Ron, what was weird?" Hermione added, also knowing exactly what was weird, having heard enough of the conversation to comprehend.
"Hi, Harry, Hermione," Ron all but squeaked.
"Hello, Ron. Now, for the third time, what was weird?"
"Ron, you git," George said.
"Can't you tell they know?" Fred asked his quivering brother.
Ron shrank back with a nervous grin on his face. "They do?"
Everyone around him nodded, excluding Harry and Hermione. Ron looked over at them and swallowed hard. They weren't quite sure why he was worried, but it was rather amusing to see him squirming like this.
"You know?"
Harry and Hermione nodded in unison, both with the same strange smirk on their face. Ron swallowed again and paled, making his freckles stand out horribly.
Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Hermione did also. Soon the contagious action spread to Ron's original six companions. Ron was suddenly confused and his face completely showed it, creating an even funnier image with more inevitable laughs.
Leaving Ron confused, Seamus asked, "So does what Ron explained to us mean anything, or is Ron just out of his mind?"
"He's out of his mind," both Harry and Hermione answered simultaneously, causing themselves to laugh.
"Were you actually in the same bed?"
"Yeah," Harry responded, "but nothing happened except for regular old sleeping. I don't know about her, but I was too tired to do anything else, even eat, which I'm going to do now."
With that, Harry spooned food onto his plate and ate quickly, yet not so fast as to disgust the people around him. Hermione smiled, knowing what happened and why he was stuffing his face, while the other boys looked at him strangely, naïve to the events of the past two weeks.
Ron, finally regaining himself, asked, "So what was actually going on down there in the Hospital Wing? I mean, it's weird. For the past two weeks, you two were like predators fighting over territory or something; then suddenly you two were sharing the same bed!"
"I never fought with Harry, especially not like you just described it."
"What's wrong with you? Do you have amnesia?"
"No, I've never fought with Harry."
"Then what do you call the past two weeks?"
"Not Harry."
"What do you mean 'not Harry'? He was sitting right next to me every morning," Ron argued.
"Actually, I was lying on a horribly, lumpy and uncomfortable bed in a disgusting cell with food that I wasn't about to eat sitting on the floor beside me," Harry explained to a very confused Ron. "That's why I'm so thin and eating so quickly."
"Stop the joke. You look fine to me. You aren't skin and bones."
Harry untucked his shirt partway and showed Ron the lower half of his ribs, which were still blatantly showing. Very seriously, he looked back up at Ron whose face was full of shock.
"It's not a joke, Ron. I've told you the part of the story that I am authorized to tell you. The rest is not for here and for Hermione to tell if she wants. Now, if you two would please stop arguing over me," Harry said in a tone that meant the conversation was over.
Hermione gave Ron a smug look and was tempted to stick her tongue out, but refrained from doing so since she was more mature than that, and she didn't want to receive a glare from Harry.
Ron continued to stare at Harry in disbelief at what he had been shown. He swallowed and seemed as though his appetite had left completely, an unusual occasion for Ron.
"Ron," a twin said, "you're not eating. Are you all right?"
Ron nodded slowly, but dazed. "Not hungry."
The other boys stared in astonishment. Harry and Hermione looked on seriously, knowing he felt guilty at not recognizing the problem.
"Ron," Hermione said gently, "It wasn't all your fault for not knowing. The clone put a memory charm on you in the owlery. That time you mentioned our fighting. If you'd been suspicious before, it was all erased."
"That doesn't excuse me. I had another week to recognize it, and I didn't. I feel like such an idiot."
"And who's to say he hadn't put more on you?" Hermione added, "Ones that none of us know about."
"It's all right, Ron," Harry assured. "He had to have been good for them to at least attempt to pull it off. That's why I sent Hermione a hint. It turns out she already knew, but I wasn't sure how it was going here."
Ron looked up at Harry.
"You're fine. I just didn't want you two arguing. It gets annoying after a while."
"But you're starved!"
"That's why I'm eating now. I'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks or so. Don't worry about it."
"I still don't have an appetite," Ron said, pushing his plate away and leaning on the table. "I feel so guilty. I should have known."
Harry only sighed at Ron. "If you're not going to eat that, I will. No sense wasting it," Harry said, motioning to Ron's rejected plateful of breakfast food.
"Go ahead."
"Thanks," Harry replied, eating the last of what was on his plate and placing Ron's upon it.
Just as Harry was about to put his fork in his mouth, his face almost became full of scrambled egg. He had been accosted from behind by someone who was apparently overjoyed to see him, judging by the high-pitched squeal that accompanied the ecstatic embrace.
"You're back! You're back! You're back!"
"Ginny, get off, please," Harry wheezed as he was still a bit achy. "Yes, I'm back. I'm glad you've figured that out."
"Well, Hermione was sitting with you, not me, so I knew things were back to normal, if you can call this normal," Ginny explained, gesturing towards a depressed Ron. "What happened to your plate? Did you eat it, too?"
Ron pointed at Harry.
"Why's he eating your plate?"
"Not my plate, my food. I'm not hungry."
"You? Not hungry? Who'd have ever thought he'd give up food?"
"Shut up, Ginny. You'd lose your appetite, too."
"Yeah, sure," she mocked.
Harry had continued to eat, ignoring Ron and Ginny-that is until he felt a cold brush of air on his back. Harry whipped around and smacked Ron's hand away. He smoothed his shirt and glared at Ron for lifting it.
"Okay, Ron, you're right," Ginny said, a bit unnerved. "What did they do to you, Harry? You're skin and bones."
"By choice," he replied. "They gave me food and got angry when I wasn't going to eat it. I didn't know. It could have been poisoned."
"We're not hungry either," the twins said simultaneously in the same unnerved tone as was in Ginny's voice.
"I'll eat that, too."
"Be our guest."
"Harry," Hermione said, "if you eat too much, you're going to make yourself sick."
"You try starving yourself for two weeks."
"No thanks. I've seen the results. I know there are some girls who would kill to be that thin, but I'm not one of them."
Harry smiled. "Good."
"You're sure there's nothing going on?"
"Yes!" both Harry and Hermione said too quickly to sound believable to anyone but themselves. The others exchanged suspicious glances and left it at that.
When Harry finished the contents of Ron's and the twins' plates, the group got up and went to Gryffindor Tower. Once there and in the fifth year boys' dormitory, everyone but Harry urged Hermione to tell her part of the story that Harry wouldn't tell them. She was very reluctant to do so. It had been a traumatizing experience, and if it hadn't been for Harry's willingness to comfort her the previous night, she would have made herself very sick. She didn't really want to retell it.
She flopped back on Harry's bed, gaining a strange look from Harry since she had lain back on his knees. She shifted to be more comfortable, earning an even stranger look.
"You aren't being very supportive."
"It's your decision. Whatever you decide, I'll support that, but other than that, there nothing much I can do. Now, lying on my shins can't be very comfortable. I'm more than willing to share the actual mattress if you'd prefer."
Hermione smiled sheepishly and a small flush touched her cheeks as she sat up. Harry slid over a bit, and Hermione leaned beside Harry against his upright pillow.
"I think not," she told Harry quietly. "Ron'll freak even more, and I don't really want everyone else to know."
"That's fine. I know the feeling. I'll do what I can to make them leave you alone. 'Kay?"
Hermione nodded. "Not now. I just want to let things work themselves out of my system first. I don't want to breakdown in the middle of the story."
"But, Hermi-"
Ron stopped in mid-sentence as he received a glare from Harry. He smiled sheepishly and shut his mouth for a while.
"Thank you."
Hermione leaned her head on Harry's shoulder in gratitude. He smiled and comfortingly put his arm around her shoulders. The others looked at them and stifled laughs. Harry rolled his eyes at them.
"It has to do with the story that she doesn't want to tell. Now those males who do not sleep in this room can go away unless you're here for something other than her story." He looked pointedly at Fred and George who got up and left.
Seamus and Dean relaxed on their beds and eventually fell asleep. Hermione made Ron do his homework and proceeded to teach Harry what he'd missed while the clone was taking his classes. They went to lunch and dinner, played chess and Exploding Snap.
At one point, Professor McGonagall entered the Tower, searching for Harry and Hermione.
"You two do realize that you must return to the Hospital Wing, tonight, don't you?"
"Since when?" Harry asked. "She let us go this morning. I thought she let us out until we got injured or sick again."
"It would seem not, Harry. At ten o'clock you need to be back there. She wants you to spend tonight there, just in case."
"Oh, all right," Harry confirmed as the Professor left. "We've got about an hour," he told Hermione who nodded.
The three continued to play chess for the next half and hour or so and even together, Harry and Hermione couldn't beat Ron once.
They both stuffed pajamas and a set of clothes for the next day into their school bags and headed down to the Hospital Wing for the night after saying goodbye to Ron.
Madam Pomfrey greeted them as they arrived and had them change for bed. Harry, who had donned a pair of gray sweatpants and a white, sleeveless t- shirt, was dressed first. Madam Pomfey gave him another goblet of the smooth, yellow potion that supposedly helped his aches. He downed it willingly and climbed into bed.
Hermione had climbed into bed as well, but after the nurse had gone to bed, she got up and jumped from one foot to the other across the cold stone floor over to where Harry was sleeping. She gently nudged him. His body tensed as he quickly woke, startling Hermione. Harry relaxed and apologized as soon as he realized it was Hermione.
"It's okay. You just surprised me, that's all," she explained. "So, um, I was wondering if I could, um, you know.."
"Stay here again tonight?"
Hermione nodded, blushing. Luckily for her, it was dark so he hadn't seen her face.
"Of course. As long as you need to."
Hermione was surprised, not because he was letting her stay that night, but that she could stay as long as she needed, or wanted, since he wouldn't know why she was there with him. She knew she shouldn't do that to him, but the temptation was high. She wanted to be close to him. She knew she might eventually have to tell him how she felt, but she'd deal with that when it came down to it.
Harry shifted over, and Hermione climbed in with him. Once she was settled, Harry moved in closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. Hermione snuggled back into him, and he didn't budge, except to shift into a more comfortable position, but not any farther from her.
There she fell asleep-warm, comfortable, and secure in Harry's arms.
Harry kept true to his offer. Even after they were out of the Hospital Wing, she was able to stay with him in the boys' dormitory.
The first night out, she honestly tried to sleep in her own bed. She tossed and turned and tried to get comfortable, and when she finally fell asleep, she woke up from a nightmare. She sighed heavily and grabbed her robe. Fortunately, the boys were up later than they should have been.
Hermione gently knocked on the door. She heard a bit of arguing before the door finally opened. Harry stood behind it, his brows knitted in concern.
"You okay?"
Hermione looked at her feet and shook her head. She went right to Harry and leaned against him, tears silently leaking onto his chest. Harry put his arm around her and caressed her back with a soft touch that she didn't know could come from him.
"You can still stay here if it would help."
Hermione nodded. "I'd like that. Thanks."
Harry smiled and led her into the room. At first they got strange looks from Harry's dorm mates, but once they saw the tears on her cheeks, they knew what was happening.
Harry led Hermione to his bed and sat her down there. He wiped her tears away with his hand and told her to get comfortable. As she did, Harry climbed in behind her.
***
At the end of the week was a Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione told Harry about Sirius's visit. He became a little annoyed that she hadn't told him sooner, but she explained that in all the commotion, when it came to her, there wasn't a chance to tell him and when there was a chance to tell him, he wasn't there to tell.
All Harry did was smile. She had explained all of the situation very quickly, and it was quite amusing when she did so.
"Hermione," Harry said, "don't freak. I understand. Let's just go."
"Oh. All right. Just let me grab some stuff."
Harry waited in the common room for Ron and Hermione and when they both arrived, the trio headed to the nearby wizarding village.
Ron was heading off to Zonko's, but stopped when he was nearly choked by his grabbed collar.
"Ah! What was that for?"
"We're shopping later," Harry replied. "We have someone to meet right now."
"What? Since when? Who?"
"We have someone to meet. Hermione made the appointment while I was gone, and I hope you can figure out who it is. Come on."
Ron remained confused as they approached the gate where they were to meet Sirius. A low growl met their ears. They looked forward and a large, black dog glared at Harry with bared teeth.
Sirius hopped the fence and separated Harry from the other two. Harry was very surprised. He looked from Sirius to Hermione. Hermione moved between Harry and Sirius.
"Snuffles, it's okay. It's him. It's Harry-the real one. He's back. The clone is gone-for good. It's all right."
Sirius looked suspiciously at Harry and slowly stalked forward and sniffed Harry's hand. He nudged it gently with his cold, wet nose. Harry slowly moved his hand and rubbed Sirius's head between the ears.
Sirius's ears rose as he looked up at Harry. He jumped up and tackled Harry to the ground with his large paws on Harry's chest and tongue lapping at Harry's face.
"Hey! Snuffles! Stop! Let me up!"
Sirius immediately sat next to Harry who was wiping his face with his sleeve. Harry smiled and hugged his godfather around his furry neck.
"Come on. Let's go up there," Harry said, indicating the cave in which Sirius would hide while he was near Hogwarts.
Once they arrived, Sirius transformed and pulled Harry into an enormous hug of relief. Harry felt like Mrs. Weasley was hugging him after a summer with the Dursleys.
"I'm so glad you're okay! They didn't hurt you did they?"
"No, Sirius. They needed me for something," Harry choked in reply. "And, Sirius.could you let go? It's a little hard to breathe like this."
Sirius jumped back at once and apologized profusely.
"It's all right. Oh, here." Harry pulled out a sack and handed it over to his godfather.
"What is it?" Sirius set the parcel on the ground and opened the drawstring top. Inside was food-real food. "Thanks, Harry."
Sirius ate a bit of the food and offered to wander Hogsmeade with them, as a dog of course. The trio accepted, and they went back and forth through the town, Sirius occasionally getting scratched behind the ears, a long petting, or even someone playing with him while Harry, Ron, and Hermione went into a store, though if they didn't have to, they never left Sirius outside by himself.
Once they ran into Draco who took one look at Harry and noted that he had a large, black, furry companion, who looked very menacing, and high-tailed it in the other direction, leaving laughing Gryffindors and a barking dog in his wake of dust.
****
Notes to my reviewers:
Nymoue: Really sorry it took so long. I didn't mean for it to take nearly as long as it did at all! Thanks for the wonderful second review. Please wait for the last chapter that is mostly written already.
Harry and Hermione's Daughter: I guess the fight turned out as I hoped. Thanks. There's more H/H stuff like that in the next one, too. Oh, and thanks for the reassurance of time! It's much appreciated.
Coconut-ice agent h/h: I know it's disgusting but that sets the mood and sets up for the cute stuff. It's nice to know that it was good-"a joy to read" may be going a little far, but.whatever floats your boat.
Gaheris: Glad I could help!
XT-Zealot: I guess a super saiyan would be more painful, wouldn't it? Hee, hee. I could have done that, but it would have been very odd to randomly have a super saiyan pop out of the middle of nowhere. Out of curiosity, would the clone have disintegrated?
JediHermione: *STORY SPOILER* It ends with a stupid comment from Ron and things being flung across the room. It's not a major spoiler or anything, but oh well.
Moonlight: Sweet is good! I apologize for lateness. As I explained before, computer strike and homework overload. Hope this and the next chapter are full of enough sweet for you.
Mesozoic Flower: No signed review? Oh, well. Yes, there's more.still. Don't freak. It's quite hazardous to your health, and I don't want to deal with that at school. LOL.
So thanks to all of my reviewers! I shall e-mail you in hopefully about a month or so (that's after my 8-15 page research paper is due) with an update! I hope you can wait that long. The next chapter is mostly H/H fluffy stuff so stay tuned if that's what you want.
Thanks, KZerina ^..^