Chapter 5

Harry, lost in thought all day was late to many classes, and distracted throughout them. He had points taken away from him and detention given to him by Snape who was not in the mood for Harry's romance troubles to be interfering with his precious class.

By the end of the day, he had decided that it wasn't worth his troubles. Harry had much worse things to think about (like Voldemort.. And even the fight between his two best friends) than his one moment of bliss with Ginny that had now gone rotten.

Harry entered the common room to see random Gryffendors mingling about. He saw Ron playing chess with George, Hermione reading a book in the corner, Parvati and Lavender doing homework at a table, and a few kids playing exploding snap on the floor.

Harry decided to start a conversation with Lee Jordan on this years Quidditch season. Ron looked over at him and made a weird face.

"I see you've gotten over me being mad at you" Ron scowled at him.

"Oh grow up Ron" Hermione yelled without giving Harry a chance to respond.

"I might say the same for you!" Ron said, turning his anger at Hermione now.

"What's that supposed to mean"

"You know perfectly well what I mean"

"No Ron, I really don't, why don't you explain it to me"

"Fine then Hermione, you wanna know what I think about all this? I think you're being a baby, you're scared of what other people will think of you or what people will say about us so you don't want to enter into a relationship with me. When we're alone you're fine and dandy and flirty with me but as soon as other people are around you pick a fight with me as though you'd rather have me dead than have me touch you or look at you"

"Ron that is absolutely just.. Just.. WRONG.. You're always wrong you don't know how I feel and I certainly do NOT.."

Ron interrupted her by grabbing her viciously and kissing her on the lips. She resisted out of pure shock and then he felt her melt under his grasp. Then she tensed up again and pulled away quite quickly. She opened her mouth twice to say something and she looked everywhere but at him. Everyone was staring. Ron was trying to hold back a grin. Her eyes drew thin and she slapped him in the face and ran up the stairs. The Gryffendor students started clapping. Ron held his cheek as he watched her run away.

"Sorry, mate" Harry said to him, patting him on the back.

Ron suddenly forgot all hatred he had toward Harry for kissing his sister and smiled as he placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Its alright, I was expecting a left"

The two laughed together and sat down to talk a bit.

"Alright, well… 8 o'clock… I better be heading to detention with Snape." Harry said, cringing at the mention of that horrible man.

"Alright," Ron sighed, "I better go talk to Hermione anyway" He rolled his eyes, smirking.
"Good luck mate"

"Thanks, I'll need it!"

With that Harry squeezed Ron's shoulder and started to make his way out of the common room. He looked over in the corner to see Ginny laughing at something with Colin Creevy, he had his hand on her knee. At first this sickened Harry but then he laughed to himself about how foolish he had acted about her. So much worse had happened to him in his life than Ginny Weasley using playing him. Although he wished he knew what went on.

"Harry… Harry wait up" Harry turned around to see Parvati running his way.

"I've got detention with Snape too" she said.

'Oh joy' Harry thought to himself. "Alright then, let's go". He remembered back to the Yule Ball last year and wasn't looking forward to spending time alone with Parvati again. What a horrible night that was. Although he was pretty sure she didn't enjoy his company either.

They entered the potions dungeon where Snape sat at his desk, cold look on his face.

"Right then, I want you to clean this entire dungeon" and with that, he left.

"Not a man of many words when he's not giving out detention or taking points from Gryffendor I see", Parvati winced as Snape so creepily walked out of the door.

"Well let's get started then" Harry said, grabbing a cloth.

An hour went by, the two of them working diligently in silence.

"Harry, do you hate me"

"No Parvati, of course I don't hate you" Harry was taken aback by this comment. Had he been rude? Was it because of Yule Ball?

"Then why don't you ever talk to me?" She asked… looking quite sad.

"I just… I don't really know, we never really hang out"
"I'd like to get to know you Harry… my mum and dad talk about you all the time, ask me how you are and what you're like. I don't really know what to tell them cause we don't chat much, sometimes I wish we did. They just loved that we went to Yule Ball together last year… they knew your parents you know"

Harry put his cloth down and looked over at Parvati. "I'm sorry if I've given you any wrong idea's, Parvati, I don't dislike you, we've just been in two different worlds I guess."

"Yes I suppose that's true, I tend to occupy myself with the normal teenage stuff and you can't exactly worry about that, you have a lot more on your hands"

"Believe me, I'd like to… and I'd like to get to know you if it means anything now" Harry gave her a lopsided grin.

"Better late than never" she smiled at him.

The two chatted while they cleaned the potions dungeon. They laughed about Yule Ball last year, they laughed about the predictions Harry makes up for divinations, they laughed about how Parvati is a teachers pet in divinations, and they even laughed about Ron and Hermione.

"OWWWW" Harry suddenly wailed, grabbing his head and falling to the floor. Parvati rushed to his side while he lay eyes closed, teeth gritting.

"Harry what happened, what's wrong"

"My scar burns so bad" he said, almost in tears due to the awful pain he was experiencing.

All of a sudden, the room started to shake, objects in the room began to lift into the air and whirl around as though in a tornado wind.

"Watch out!" Harry warned as Parvati screamed and ducked. Harry instinctively wrapped himself around her and brought her close to the ground where he hovered over her protectively. Things flew by them, some hitting them. They heard the single window in the room shatter and heard the glass fall to the ground. Finally it died down and Parvati began to unravel from her tucked position but Harry still had all of his weight on her.
"Harry I think we're alright now"

No response.
Parvati pushed him off of her and he rolled onto the ground, unconscious. Parvati screamed for help and Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall came rushing in to see what all the commotion was about.

"What is going on in here?!" Snape demanded.

"I don't know what happened!" Parvati started ranting, "Harry's scar started to hurt and then all of a sudden all these objects started flying around as thought there was a tornado in here, I think something must of have hit him"

McGonagall and Snape looked down at the 15 year old boy to see no blood and were somewhat relieved, but quickly took him to the hospital wing anyway.

***

As Ron ascended the stairs, he thought about what he would say to Hermione. She really was being unbearable. But what was new? This is how she always was, this is the girl he had fallen in love with long before he knew the meaning of the word.

Her door was cracked open and he peered in to see Hermione sitting on the window sill, staring out into the blank night sky.

As Hermione sat, she thought about what Ron had said to her. He was right. She didn't know what she was afraid of. Love? They were too young. She wanted to be with him forever, would starting at 15 ruin those chances? What would people say? There was just so many things telling her "no don't do this, it will ruin everything".

She looked over to see the 6 ft red head standing in her doorway. She jolted a little.

"Ron! Don't do that! You cant just creep up like that" She said, coming out of the window sill and taking a seat on her bed. He wearily walked over and sat down next to her. He could see Hermione's cheeks start to turn pink. He knew she felt the same way about him, so why did she act like this?

"You know, Hermione, after what happened with us in the hallway and in the hospital wing, I was so happy, I thought, wow, after all these years, all I've had to do is say it, who would have thought she would have felt the same way. This girl, that I've been secretly admiring for 5 years now, this girl who I cant ever stop thinking about and who I quarrel with every day just because I like to see her cute little face when she's angry.. This girl might actually like me back. And I layed in my bed, awake all night thinking 'wow this girl is finally mine' but then you ripped it away from me as soon as it was given. Why, Hermione? Why are you doing this?"

"Ron… I've always been yours… and you're right, I am scared. I just need time to think about all this"

"Fine," Ron said, getting up and walking toward the door. "Let me know when you're done thinking, I'll of course be waiting"

"Well you don't have to go…" she said, looking like she was wondering where that came from too.

Ron stood paralyzed for a moment, thinking over the possibilities of what that implied. He began to walk toward her bed again, and sat on the other side. He leaned one hand behind him and looked over to Hermione, who was sitting in a similar position.

"So…" he said, trying to hide the smirk and blush from his face.

"So…" she said in reply, looking as though she was trying to hide the same thing. She chuckled for a second, then flipped her legs up on the bed and leaned back against her pillow.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked.

"Actually it's not funny… just … I always imagined that our first kiss would be sweet, long and romantic, not ravish, quick, and passionate." She said, still chuckling, quite embarrassed looking also.
"So, Hermione Granger dreams about kissing me" He said, smiling like never before.

"Oh I should have known you would have said something like that, I wish I never told you" She said, laughing still.

"What are our second kisses like in those dreams?" Ron asked, looking kind of daring.

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Well you'll just have to tell me if this is right" He said, leaning in. Hermione looked scared and he wondered if he should go through with it. But then she closed her eyes and he knew he better live up.

When their lips came together it was nothing like before. Before they had locked to prove a point. This time, it was a justification, of everything the two had ever felt for each other. Ron took his hand off the bed and placed it on Hermione's face as his mouth explored hers. He'd never experienced passion like this before and it made his heart stand on end, as he couldn't get enough. She pulled back a little and he worried that she didn't feel the same. Their lips came apart very slowly, so that all the moisture and passion was not lost, but savored for everything it was worth.

Hermione blinked a few times, and Ron sat, awaiting her approval.
"Wow", she finally spoke, "Ron, I… "

Her words were broken with Parvati running in the door.
"Its Harry, he's been taken to the infirmary"