The following events take place during Harry Potter's fifth year at
Hogwarts. They occur simultaneously with the events narrated in "The Order
of the Phoenix".
A Couple out of a Trio
Chapter II
Ron got closer to Harry and Hermione, who were talking in the entrance of the boys' dormitory.
"Quiet, Hermione! You're gonna wake them!" said Ron, pointing to Neville, Seamus and Dean, but Hermione didn't even look at Ron. She seemed to be really concerned.
"Tell me, Harry: Where - have - you - just been?!" she repeated angrily.
"Why, Hermione? Why do you want to know where I was?" asked Harry.
Then Hermione saw, with a look of panic on her face, Harry's towel lying on the floor. Both Ron and Harry looked in the same direction and while they were wondering what that meant, Hermione touched Harry's hair.
For a moment, Ron saw in front of him a scene that made him feel like if he had just fell in a cold lake. Harry and Hermione, close to each other, her hand in his hair.
But the "scene" lasted for only a few seconds. Hermione took her hand back and said, desperately.
"You were in the showers. weren't you?"
"Yes, I was!" shouted Harry, and now he seemed to be angrier than Hermione. "Ginny, Angelina and I were outside; I was giving Ginny some advice about Quidditch, and it started to rain, so the girls came back to the castle, but I decided to take a shower before." Hermione had his face between her hands. "But why are you asking this, Hermione? What's your problem?!"
While Hermione took a deep breath, Harry looked at Ron. They exchanged concerned looks. Was Hermione going nuts?
"I asked you, Harry." she said ".'cause Lavender just got to the dormitory with a picture of you."
Ron, who was looking at Dean Thomas, who seemed to be awaking after Harry's and Hermione's shouts, looked back at Hermione.
"A picture?" Ron said, and then both him and Harry asked together. "What kind of picture?"
Hermione started to blush.
"Well. it is photo. of you." and she completed the sentence staring the floor ".naked."
Her face was all red now, and so were Ron's and Harry's. The three of them didn't dare look at each other's faces. Ron watched as Harry got almost as red as his wet Quidditch uniform which was laying in the dirty clothes basket, but Ron knew he was blushing even worse - He felt his cheeks burning as they started to turn purple.
It was Hermione who first spoke again, after a few seconds that seemed like hours.
"I'll go and bring her. and the picture." she said, but before she could even turn around, Harry started to walk furiously right to the girls' dormitories.
Ron had never seen Harry that way. Ron and Hermione ran after Harry, who seemed to have forgotten that the stairs which led to the girls' rooms would turn into slides when he got to them.
But he didn't need to get to the enchanted stairs.
As the trio got downstairs, they saw Lavender Brown in the Common Room, laughing loudly while pointing at a picture she had in her hands. The room was full of Gryffindor girls, and Ron noticed, terrified, that many of them had pictures in their hands too.
The crowd of girls fell silent as Harry arrived. All of them stared him; a few looked almost scared, but most of them seemed to be trying hard not to laugh. A second-year blonde girl to whom Harry had never talked couldn't help laughing loudly, and many of them started to laugh even louder.
Ron didn't dare look at Harry. He was imagining how bad his best friend was feeling when they heard a young boy's voice coming from the boys' dormitories.
"Look at these sick pictures coming through the window. Hey, it's Potter!"
Ron knew whose voice it was. It was first-year Euan Abercombrie's. Ron thought about going up to the first-years' dormitory to check where those pictures had come from. Actually, all he wanted was to be far from Harry, who hadn't said a single word yet. Ron had just turned around when they all heard a yell coming from outside the Common Room.
"What are you doing?" it was the Fat Lady's voice. "Stop it! I'm telling you to stop it - oh, Goodness!"
After hearing a different voice outside the room shouting what sounded like a spell, Ron almost fainted as an amazing amount of pictures came flying from the small space under the door the Fat Lady guarded.
One of the pictures fell right in front of Ron's feet. Without thinking about what he was doing, he looked at the floor and saw a Muggle picture showing his best friend in one of the most embarrassing ways possible. - and then Ron felt something hitting him strongly in the head.
Ron fell to the floor and saw that it was Harry who had almost knocked him unconscious.
Hermione held Harry's arms and was shouting at him, trying to calm him down, but she herself was very afflict.
"Calm down, Harry! I understand you're angry, but Ron has nothing to do with." she stopped talking as one of the flying pictures hit her face.
Harry managed to get it and rip it violently. The girls - and some boys, too, who had ran down after so much noise - fell silent at once. Harry did seem likely to knock out everyone who had seen one of those pictures of him.
"Okay, that is enough! Delletrio!" - shouted Hermione, pointing to a picture that was still flying through the room. It caught fire and it's ashes disappeared in mid-air.
There was no sound in the room except Hermione's spells, which managed to destroy all the pictures in less than a minute.
After she had done it, the whole room fell into a morbid silence. Nobody knew what to do or say.
"They're destroyed, Harry." said Hermione softly, but everyone in the room heard her. "Go back to your dorm, now." as she said it, Hermione noticed Ron was no longer in the Common Room.
"No." said a still furious Harry "Now. now you erase their memories!"
Most of the students in the room gasped and some screamed.
"Harry, I don't think I can do that and. Oh, Harry, please, you don't know what you're saying, it's not their fault." said Hermione.
"So whose fault is it? Who took these pictures?" Harry asked, even though he already knew the answer to his question. Only Quidditch players could have entered that bathroom. And he didn't have the slightest doubt about who had done it.
"Malfoy will pay for this." - Harry muttered silently.
Hermione told the students to go back to their beds. Harry noticed there were more then twenty students leaving the Common Room now. Even Dean Thomas, his roommate, had gone down in pajamas to see the most shameful episode in Harry's life.
Harry remained silent until there was no one except him and Hermione in the room.
"Let's go now, Harry?"
Harry took a while to answer.
"I am not sleepy." Harry still could not look at Hermione's face. "And I don't feel like talking to Dean or Ron now. I think I'll wait here for a while"
"Harry, you will have to talk to them again. And you have to apologize to Ron." Harry remained silent and kept staring at the floor. "Harry, you will have to face me and Ron again. We are your best friends, you don't have to be so ashamed. If Cho had seen it, then I'd have to agree with you if you wanted to fly away from Hogwarts."
Hermione made Harry feel even worse. And if Draco did have sent pictures to the Ravenclaw Common Room as well?
***
"Dean!" said Ron as his roommate got back to the dorm. "How are things downstairs?"
"Well, Hermione fixed everything, as she always does. And you. are you feeling better?"
"Yes, I am." lied Ron. His head was still aching. "But where is Harry?"
"Hm. I left the Common Room with everyone else, but I think Hermione and Harry stayed there. They probably have much to talk."
"Yes, I guess they do." Ron couldn't help feeling envious. "Okay, I'm gonna sleep now, good night."
"'Night." answered Dean.
The minutes passed and Harry had not arrived yet. Hermione and Harry, alone, downstairs. Harry was emotionally unstable; he was probably crying hugged to Hermione. What if - no, it wouldn't happen.
But what if it did happen? Harry kissed Cho while she was crying, maybe Hermione could think she should do the same to him.
"No, they will not kiss." said Ron to himself.
After a few more silent minutes, Ron remembered that the picture Mr. Granger had taken was lying somewhere near his bed.
He found it easily. It was a full moon, so Ron could clearly see the picture - his favorite picture. Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them, together. And now, Hermione and Harry were probably hugging, maybe kissing, and he was there, alone.
But why the idea of Harry and Hermione together made him so jealous? Actually, Ron knew why. He was in love, that was why. He really was in love.
And, with his finger, he wrote an imaginary "R & H" on the picture.
A Couple out of a Trio
Chapter II
Ron got closer to Harry and Hermione, who were talking in the entrance of the boys' dormitory.
"Quiet, Hermione! You're gonna wake them!" said Ron, pointing to Neville, Seamus and Dean, but Hermione didn't even look at Ron. She seemed to be really concerned.
"Tell me, Harry: Where - have - you - just been?!" she repeated angrily.
"Why, Hermione? Why do you want to know where I was?" asked Harry.
Then Hermione saw, with a look of panic on her face, Harry's towel lying on the floor. Both Ron and Harry looked in the same direction and while they were wondering what that meant, Hermione touched Harry's hair.
For a moment, Ron saw in front of him a scene that made him feel like if he had just fell in a cold lake. Harry and Hermione, close to each other, her hand in his hair.
But the "scene" lasted for only a few seconds. Hermione took her hand back and said, desperately.
"You were in the showers. weren't you?"
"Yes, I was!" shouted Harry, and now he seemed to be angrier than Hermione. "Ginny, Angelina and I were outside; I was giving Ginny some advice about Quidditch, and it started to rain, so the girls came back to the castle, but I decided to take a shower before." Hermione had his face between her hands. "But why are you asking this, Hermione? What's your problem?!"
While Hermione took a deep breath, Harry looked at Ron. They exchanged concerned looks. Was Hermione going nuts?
"I asked you, Harry." she said ".'cause Lavender just got to the dormitory with a picture of you."
Ron, who was looking at Dean Thomas, who seemed to be awaking after Harry's and Hermione's shouts, looked back at Hermione.
"A picture?" Ron said, and then both him and Harry asked together. "What kind of picture?"
Hermione started to blush.
"Well. it is photo. of you." and she completed the sentence staring the floor ".naked."
Her face was all red now, and so were Ron's and Harry's. The three of them didn't dare look at each other's faces. Ron watched as Harry got almost as red as his wet Quidditch uniform which was laying in the dirty clothes basket, but Ron knew he was blushing even worse - He felt his cheeks burning as they started to turn purple.
It was Hermione who first spoke again, after a few seconds that seemed like hours.
"I'll go and bring her. and the picture." she said, but before she could even turn around, Harry started to walk furiously right to the girls' dormitories.
Ron had never seen Harry that way. Ron and Hermione ran after Harry, who seemed to have forgotten that the stairs which led to the girls' rooms would turn into slides when he got to them.
But he didn't need to get to the enchanted stairs.
As the trio got downstairs, they saw Lavender Brown in the Common Room, laughing loudly while pointing at a picture she had in her hands. The room was full of Gryffindor girls, and Ron noticed, terrified, that many of them had pictures in their hands too.
The crowd of girls fell silent as Harry arrived. All of them stared him; a few looked almost scared, but most of them seemed to be trying hard not to laugh. A second-year blonde girl to whom Harry had never talked couldn't help laughing loudly, and many of them started to laugh even louder.
Ron didn't dare look at Harry. He was imagining how bad his best friend was feeling when they heard a young boy's voice coming from the boys' dormitories.
"Look at these sick pictures coming through the window. Hey, it's Potter!"
Ron knew whose voice it was. It was first-year Euan Abercombrie's. Ron thought about going up to the first-years' dormitory to check where those pictures had come from. Actually, all he wanted was to be far from Harry, who hadn't said a single word yet. Ron had just turned around when they all heard a yell coming from outside the Common Room.
"What are you doing?" it was the Fat Lady's voice. "Stop it! I'm telling you to stop it - oh, Goodness!"
After hearing a different voice outside the room shouting what sounded like a spell, Ron almost fainted as an amazing amount of pictures came flying from the small space under the door the Fat Lady guarded.
One of the pictures fell right in front of Ron's feet. Without thinking about what he was doing, he looked at the floor and saw a Muggle picture showing his best friend in one of the most embarrassing ways possible. - and then Ron felt something hitting him strongly in the head.
Ron fell to the floor and saw that it was Harry who had almost knocked him unconscious.
Hermione held Harry's arms and was shouting at him, trying to calm him down, but she herself was very afflict.
"Calm down, Harry! I understand you're angry, but Ron has nothing to do with." she stopped talking as one of the flying pictures hit her face.
Harry managed to get it and rip it violently. The girls - and some boys, too, who had ran down after so much noise - fell silent at once. Harry did seem likely to knock out everyone who had seen one of those pictures of him.
"Okay, that is enough! Delletrio!" - shouted Hermione, pointing to a picture that was still flying through the room. It caught fire and it's ashes disappeared in mid-air.
There was no sound in the room except Hermione's spells, which managed to destroy all the pictures in less than a minute.
After she had done it, the whole room fell into a morbid silence. Nobody knew what to do or say.
"They're destroyed, Harry." said Hermione softly, but everyone in the room heard her. "Go back to your dorm, now." as she said it, Hermione noticed Ron was no longer in the Common Room.
"No." said a still furious Harry "Now. now you erase their memories!"
Most of the students in the room gasped and some screamed.
"Harry, I don't think I can do that and. Oh, Harry, please, you don't know what you're saying, it's not their fault." said Hermione.
"So whose fault is it? Who took these pictures?" Harry asked, even though he already knew the answer to his question. Only Quidditch players could have entered that bathroom. And he didn't have the slightest doubt about who had done it.
"Malfoy will pay for this." - Harry muttered silently.
Hermione told the students to go back to their beds. Harry noticed there were more then twenty students leaving the Common Room now. Even Dean Thomas, his roommate, had gone down in pajamas to see the most shameful episode in Harry's life.
Harry remained silent until there was no one except him and Hermione in the room.
"Let's go now, Harry?"
Harry took a while to answer.
"I am not sleepy." Harry still could not look at Hermione's face. "And I don't feel like talking to Dean or Ron now. I think I'll wait here for a while"
"Harry, you will have to talk to them again. And you have to apologize to Ron." Harry remained silent and kept staring at the floor. "Harry, you will have to face me and Ron again. We are your best friends, you don't have to be so ashamed. If Cho had seen it, then I'd have to agree with you if you wanted to fly away from Hogwarts."
Hermione made Harry feel even worse. And if Draco did have sent pictures to the Ravenclaw Common Room as well?
***
"Dean!" said Ron as his roommate got back to the dorm. "How are things downstairs?"
"Well, Hermione fixed everything, as she always does. And you. are you feeling better?"
"Yes, I am." lied Ron. His head was still aching. "But where is Harry?"
"Hm. I left the Common Room with everyone else, but I think Hermione and Harry stayed there. They probably have much to talk."
"Yes, I guess they do." Ron couldn't help feeling envious. "Okay, I'm gonna sleep now, good night."
"'Night." answered Dean.
The minutes passed and Harry had not arrived yet. Hermione and Harry, alone, downstairs. Harry was emotionally unstable; he was probably crying hugged to Hermione. What if - no, it wouldn't happen.
But what if it did happen? Harry kissed Cho while she was crying, maybe Hermione could think she should do the same to him.
"No, they will not kiss." said Ron to himself.
After a few more silent minutes, Ron remembered that the picture Mr. Granger had taken was lying somewhere near his bed.
He found it easily. It was a full moon, so Ron could clearly see the picture - his favorite picture. Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them, together. And now, Hermione and Harry were probably hugging, maybe kissing, and he was there, alone.
But why the idea of Harry and Hermione together made him so jealous? Actually, Ron knew why. He was in love, that was why. He really was in love.
And, with his finger, he wrote an imaginary "R & H" on the picture.