Quiditch practice that night was silent and seemed incredibly long.
Harry wasn't talking to Renata, he didn't want to talk to the twins, and
being in such a sullen mood he didn't want to talk to the others either.
At the end of practice Fred and George came over.
"It was just a joke."
"We would've let you down from the tree eventually."
Harry did respond and just walked straight passed them.
As soon as he reached the common room he went to the dorm and took out the latest book Renata had loaned him, another Tolkien, The Lost Roads. He had only just started it and wanted to keep reading it but instead he went back to the common room and he threw the book at Renata. He received no good-natured comments or laughter; he hadn't expected any. He stalked off to do his homework.
For nearly a week Harry neither talked nor sat near his friends. He spent his afternoons flying alone or researching anything that might help discover what Godric's sacrifice to the castle was. Harry spent his nights at Quiditch practice or doing homework. By Friday even his teachers had noticed the foul disposition he had of late.
Harry had gotten in fights with Ron before, he'd gotten in fights with Hermione before as well. But he'd never been in a fight with both at the same time. It was lonely this way: he sat alone and he barely spoke to anyone.
Snape dealt with it by being especially cruel, taunting him at every turn. He took fifteen points from Gryffindor by the end of class.
Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't much better. They were working on a form of the stunning spell and Harry seemed to be having a block with it. He had been paired with Seamus Finnigan and after the first few tries Seamus was able to pause Harry in his tracks and bring him back to him. Harry had never had trouble with stunning spells before but today he couldn't even freeze Seamus once. At the end of class Professor Delano asked to speak with Harry.
"You seem to be having some trouble with this spell. Is anything wrong?"
"No."
"Are you sure? You seem preoccupied."
"I'm fine."
"Would you like me to ask another student to help you with the spell? Hermione perhaps? She seems to grasp most of the spells quite easily."
"No. I don't need any help."
"Alright. You may go then."
By the time his Magical Creatures class started, Harry was beginning to wish he wasn't in all the same classes as Ron.
Hagrid noticed that Harry seemed upset. He almost paired him with Ron, Hermione, or Renata but it didn't seem to make any of them happy so Hagrid asked Harry to help him instead.
"Still mad at each other, eh?"
"Yeah, and its their fault."
"I don't think they'd agree with yeh Harry."
"What makes you say that?" He continued stuffing lettuce down then throat of a giant winged worm.
"Cos, they came ter see me."
"Without telling me!"
"They didn' have ter tell yeh, Harry. Besides, they said yeh aren't on speakin' terms with 'em right now. How could they tell yeh?"
"That's because they owe me an apology."
"They told me it's the other way around. You started yellin' at them."
"They read my mind and then stuck me in a tree without my wand!"
"Before 'r yeh yelled at 'em?"
"They read my mind before I yelled at them."
"Why'd they do that?"
Harry thought a moment. "I don't know. I never asked."
"Maybe you should've. They're yer friends, they worry 'bout yeh, an' care a whole lot about yeh. At least as much as yeh care abou' them."
Harry was silent so Hagrid continued.
"They're jus' lookin' out for yeh after all. Nobody can face life alone, yeh know. That's why there're other people here. To give us advice, help us, and ter be our friends. The world is dangerous yeh know and sometimes we're blind ter the danger an' trouble so we need people to open our eyes."
Harry thought about Hagrid's words the rest of the day. Much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Hagrid was right. Harry sighed. Now that he'd admitted it to himself, he would have to do the equally hard, if not harder task of admitting it to his friends.
He tried to decide whom to talk to first. Hermione would be easiest. She had gotten in plenty of fights with he had Ron. Where would she be? The library.
Harry left in search of her. He found her reading a large tome about plants and fungi. She must have heard him come but she didn't look up at him. Several minutes later they still stood in silence; or rather Harry was awkwardly standing and she was seated with a book.
"Hermione?"
She ignored him.
"Hermione, you may not want to talk to me but at least hear me out."
Still nothing.
"Hermione, I'm here to apologize."
She looked up. "Okay, start talking."
"I'm sorry. I guess you guys were looking out for me and I just exploded. I shouldn't have kept any secrets from any of you."
"I can understand why you did. It's your own business how much you tell us about you're parents past. Whether you wanted to say anything about them being in the Order was up to you and we really should have waited until you were ready to tell us about the Tower and the Papers. I'd like to see the papers written by your parents sometime."
"Maybe I'll show them to you if I go back to that Tower. But if you find the Tower yourself, my mom was Starliner and my dad was Featherflyer. I don't know why he didn't just stick to Prongs though."
"Apology accepted."
"I've got a few more to take care too. Any idea where Ron is?"
"Probably the common room."
"Thanks." Harry left the library. One down, but still two more to go.
He found Ron in the common room, building a card castle with his Exploding Snap cards.
"Hey Ron."
"What do you want? I'm in the middle of something."
"Look Ron, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you guys."
"I forgive you. I'm sorry too, for not stopping Renata."
"Forget it. You just keeping her from messing up the spell and messing up my head."
Ron grinned. "Yeah it's messed up enough already. So what did you mean by 'I know how you feel about Hermione'?"
"Oh, that was nothing. Really."
Ron frowned a minute then changed to a grin. "Here help with this castle. So what did you mean last week about overhearing Hermione and Renata talking after you came out of the hospital?"
"Oh. After we went up to the dorm that night I came back down the stairs to get my Transfiguration homework and I stopped on the stairs when I heard Renata and Hermione having a fight. I came down to get my work once they were gone but I still didn't understand their argument."
"What do you think it was about?"
"They were arguing about someone. Then Renata said that Hermione was just upset and really stressed out."
"Hmmm."
"I need to look for Renata. Do you know where she is?"
"I think she left awhile ago to go flying."
"Okay, thanks." Harry went upstairs to get his broom and came down.
Okay, he thought as he made his way down the steps of the castle with his broom over his shoulder, only one apology left. And it was the hardest one. Things should be easier if they were flying. If she ignored him now he'd just wait to talk to her until after Quiditch practice. Harry went to the Quiditch stadium and found it empty.
He emerged from it and looked skyward. He saw a speck soaring above. Must be Renata.
Harry launched himself into the air on his broom. His Firebolt could catch up to her.
He flew close enough to see her face, "Renata!"
She didn't respond.
"Renata! I need to talk to you!"
She sped her broom away.
Fine, be that way, he thought. He could tell this wouldn't be easy. Harry sped up the broom flying closer to her. "Renata! Cut it out already!"
She kept flying.
"I can't talk to you if you won't stop!"
At last she answered. "You have to catch me first!" She flew in loops and circles. At last, seeing Harry wouldn't give up she flew back toward the castle and landed on top of one of the towers.
They waited a minute to catch their breath, and then Renata spoke.
"So you said you wanted to say something, what is it? I'm listening."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
Harry looked at her as if she was crazy.
She answered, she had gained back her old humor but her voice was still icy. "You can't apologize without knowing what you did wrong. If you don't know, well, then your apology is worthless and pointless."
"You really don't want to make this easy, do you?"
She tossed her head. "Of course not. Why should I? I've no reason to, and you know it."
Harry couldn't help grinning just a little. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all where I was last Friday."
"Go on."
"You weren't kidding when you said you weren't going to make this easy. Everything you said about me was true. I'm impatient and stubborn."
"And arrogant," she reminded him.
"You really think so?"
"Just a little. You gotta learn when to say, 'Help me please, somebody, I can't do this alone.' You can't face the world by yourself Harry. No one can. That's why other people exist. And as for keeping secrets, we all do."
He looked at her skeptically.
"Of course we do," she said. "Think about it. Your parents switched secret keepers but they didn't tell Dumbledore, they didn't tell Lupin, they didn't tell anyone. You can speak Parseltongue but you don't go shout out to the world 'Hey everybody, I talk to snakes in my spare time.' We all keep secrets, Harry. Its in our nature."
"Name one thing you never told anybody."
"When I was four I had a mad crush on Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh. And when I was seven I was sure I fell in love with Peter Pan. Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Okay maybe I'm a bit crazy but everyone is. Come on, you never had a crush on a person who wasn't real?"
"Don't think so."
"With all the princesses in those Disney movies you never had a crush on any of them? How about someone from a book? Jasmine? Sleeping Beauty? Belle? Cinderella? Ariel from The Little Mermaid, right? A nice redhead and she sings. Come on, none of them?"
"I don't get crushes on cartoons. By the way, mermaids look nothing like Ariel."
"Interesting, I'd love to hear the fascinating story behind that one sometime. As of now I'd have to say Peter Pan. But Frodo Baggins isn't bad either"
"You are crazy."
"I know. It's one of the benefits of being me. Now here's one of the other benefits of being me: I'm sorry. See? I know when I'm wrong and need to apologize. I exploded last week too. It wasn't just you."
"Forget it. Want to go flying before everyone comes out for practice?"
"I got a better idea. Follow me." Renata, broom between her legs, jumped off the tower. Midair she did a one-eighty turn to face Harry. "Come on, follow me."
Harry jumped on his broom and followed her. They flew until they reached the Gryffindor Tower. Renata and he waited just to the side of the window.
"Too bad it's locked," she whispered. "Guess I'll have to knock." She kicked the window with her foot, Harry behind her.
Renata looked into the window and backed off. "Never mind Harry. Wrong window. Come on the common room window is down this way." They flew down to the window; it was open. Renata whispered, "Good, Hermione and Ron are there. I'm going to fly in and then you fly in right after me. Ha! They are going to so freak. 1.2.3.Go!" Renata flew in the open window, Harry followed closely.
"Surprise!"
"Hi!"
Ron and Hermione came over. "We all friends again?"
"Sure thing."
"I'm surprised you both fit through the window."
"We've got some catching up to do. So why don't we all go eat dinner together now and then we can talk again when Renata and I get back from Quiditch practice."
"Sounds like a good plan."
Laughing like he hadn't laughed in a week Harry went down with his friends to the Great Hall walking abreast with their arms draped over each others' shoulders.
Harry passed Draco, who still hadn't let up about Harry being stuck in the tree.
"Potter you've got a whole flock of birds now! How lovely!"
Harry could hear the sniggering Slytherins and he considered ignoring them but came up with a better idea. The whole line of them turned to face the Slytherins and Harry called, "Malfoy! You should just concentrate on walking and try not to let your mind wander. Its too small to be out by itself." Laughing they turned back around. He couldn't see but Harry was almost sure Draco blushed at being made fun of in front of so many people.
"Nice one, Harry."
"Thanks."
They spent the next hour catching up.
"So did you guys find anything new?"
"Not yet but we were looking."
"Me too and I came up blank. Tomorrow I'm going back to the Tower. Do any of you want to come?"
"Most definitely."
"Of course."
"Wouldn't miss it."
"Great. Renata, we've got to go to practice."
"Right. We've got to go back to Gryffindor Tower for our brooms first."
"Right."
"We're going back to the Tower anyway will walk with you."
The four of them reached Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Renata went to look for their brooms while Ron and Hermione set up to play Chess. Harry and Renata both came back down to the common room at the same time.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Most definitely."
Brooms between their legs they jumped out the window.
They flew down to the Quiditch field where the rest of the team was waiting.
Harry shouted just for the fun of it. "Everyone start your warm up laps!" Practice was much more relaxed and jovial that night, much more so than it had been the last week.
At the end of practice Harry and Renata locked the broom shed and walked back up to the castle. They decided they'd be in too much trouble if a professor caught them flying through windows.
They reached the common room and the four of them discussed how they spent the week.
It turned out that Ron, Hermione, and Renata hadn't spent much of the week together.
"I spent a lot of time alone in my room and most of the rest of the time on the Quiditch field. Screaming just for the fun of it, really, it's a great stress reliever you know," Renata told them.
Hermione said, "I spent most of my time in the library."
"What about you Ron?" asked Harry.
"I spent some time with Fred and George."
Harry asked, "But you guys were all mad at me, not each other. You could have all hung out."
Renata smiled. "Its your fault the rest of us weren't hanging out you know, Harry."
Harry jaw dropped in surprise.
"You gave us an earful to listen to and head-full to think about. More so even after I left from what I hear."
Harry flushed.
"Let's hear the message." Renata extracted a small stone from her pocket. "It has got a spell on it. Records whatever it hears when the spell is activated. I listened to the message once through let's listen again. Harry why were you so loud? I had to lower the volume on this thing. All right let's listen. Repitas!"
The stone emitted barely audible whispers and then Harry's voice rose loud and clear. " 'Who does she think she is? Telling me what to do! She had no right to go listen to my head! Of course I trust my friends but it doesn't mean I tell them everything! What am I supposed to do keep paper with me so I can write notes on everything anyone says to me and hand out copies to everyone? Of course I care about my friends! Who does she think she is? Ron why did you tell her how to read minds!' "
" 'I didn't! I didn't know this until today but she read you Divination book when you were in the hospital'," Ron's voice called.
" 'Why didn't either of you try to stop her, I thought you were my friends.' " Harry again.
Hermione's voice came. " 'Harry we are your friends and so is she. If you.' "
" 'What?' " Harry's voice demanded.
" 'Harry we couldn't stop her once we realized what she was doing. If we did try you could have seriously been hurt,' " Ron again.
" 'Really Ron? Would you like me to tell Hermione what you think of her? Oh, and Hermione, I heard you and Renata talking the night after I was out of the hospital.' " Harry's voice on the stone ended and he spoke.
"It was right after that that Hermione and Ron sent me into a tree."
They all laughed.
Renata stopped laughing long enough to speak again. "What I think is interesting is that last part."
Harry appeared to color slightly again. "That."
"No Harry, I understood it. What I am trying to figure out is how much you understood."
"Which part of the last part? The first or the second?"
"The second. I can take a good guess at the first but it's really only my opinion."
"What about the second?"
"I'll give you a hint: not you."
Ron nudged Harry, "Would you two mind speaking English?"
Renata smiled. "Sorry Ron. Just figuring out how well he pays attention."
The four of them stayed up late talking. Finally Hermione proclaimed she was tired and went upstairs, Ron retired soon after she did.
Ron asked Harry, "Are you coming?"
"I'll be up in a minute."
Ron shrugged and went up to the dorm.
Renata turned to Harry, "How much do you know?"
"I didn't hear names."
"Okay so you came about mid-argument."
"Wait, I did hear names once. You said 'You, me, Harry and Ron, we're all friends'."
"Okay, harmless enough."
"What's your guess about the first part?"
"Oh, I definitely think you know what I think. And that you agree with me."
"Why are we still talking like this?"
"You never know who's on the stairs," she grinned.
"So, what did you think?"
"Oh she definitely likes him. That's obvious."
"She does?" Harry was shocked it had never crossed his mind. "But what about Krum?"
"Her parents love to travel and they think it's educational for her. They went to France one year and this summer it was Bulgaria. She only spent one day with Viktor Krum while she was there. She watched a Quiditch practice and then her parents, Krum's parents, Krum, and her went out to dinner. Then Hermione told him she just wanted to be friends."
"I didn't know that."
"Why would you know that? Harry you've got to keep your eyes peeled and your ears open. You'd be surprised how much you miss. A person would think you'd always walked around deaf and blind, eyes and ears should always be open. Goodnight." She went upstairs.
Harry after a few rather flabbergasted moments Harry went up the boys' staircases and went to sleep.
At the end of practice Fred and George came over.
"It was just a joke."
"We would've let you down from the tree eventually."
Harry did respond and just walked straight passed them.
As soon as he reached the common room he went to the dorm and took out the latest book Renata had loaned him, another Tolkien, The Lost Roads. He had only just started it and wanted to keep reading it but instead he went back to the common room and he threw the book at Renata. He received no good-natured comments or laughter; he hadn't expected any. He stalked off to do his homework.
For nearly a week Harry neither talked nor sat near his friends. He spent his afternoons flying alone or researching anything that might help discover what Godric's sacrifice to the castle was. Harry spent his nights at Quiditch practice or doing homework. By Friday even his teachers had noticed the foul disposition he had of late.
Harry had gotten in fights with Ron before, he'd gotten in fights with Hermione before as well. But he'd never been in a fight with both at the same time. It was lonely this way: he sat alone and he barely spoke to anyone.
Snape dealt with it by being especially cruel, taunting him at every turn. He took fifteen points from Gryffindor by the end of class.
Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't much better. They were working on a form of the stunning spell and Harry seemed to be having a block with it. He had been paired with Seamus Finnigan and after the first few tries Seamus was able to pause Harry in his tracks and bring him back to him. Harry had never had trouble with stunning spells before but today he couldn't even freeze Seamus once. At the end of class Professor Delano asked to speak with Harry.
"You seem to be having some trouble with this spell. Is anything wrong?"
"No."
"Are you sure? You seem preoccupied."
"I'm fine."
"Would you like me to ask another student to help you with the spell? Hermione perhaps? She seems to grasp most of the spells quite easily."
"No. I don't need any help."
"Alright. You may go then."
By the time his Magical Creatures class started, Harry was beginning to wish he wasn't in all the same classes as Ron.
Hagrid noticed that Harry seemed upset. He almost paired him with Ron, Hermione, or Renata but it didn't seem to make any of them happy so Hagrid asked Harry to help him instead.
"Still mad at each other, eh?"
"Yeah, and its their fault."
"I don't think they'd agree with yeh Harry."
"What makes you say that?" He continued stuffing lettuce down then throat of a giant winged worm.
"Cos, they came ter see me."
"Without telling me!"
"They didn' have ter tell yeh, Harry. Besides, they said yeh aren't on speakin' terms with 'em right now. How could they tell yeh?"
"That's because they owe me an apology."
"They told me it's the other way around. You started yellin' at them."
"They read my mind and then stuck me in a tree without my wand!"
"Before 'r yeh yelled at 'em?"
"They read my mind before I yelled at them."
"Why'd they do that?"
Harry thought a moment. "I don't know. I never asked."
"Maybe you should've. They're yer friends, they worry 'bout yeh, an' care a whole lot about yeh. At least as much as yeh care abou' them."
Harry was silent so Hagrid continued.
"They're jus' lookin' out for yeh after all. Nobody can face life alone, yeh know. That's why there're other people here. To give us advice, help us, and ter be our friends. The world is dangerous yeh know and sometimes we're blind ter the danger an' trouble so we need people to open our eyes."
Harry thought about Hagrid's words the rest of the day. Much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Hagrid was right. Harry sighed. Now that he'd admitted it to himself, he would have to do the equally hard, if not harder task of admitting it to his friends.
He tried to decide whom to talk to first. Hermione would be easiest. She had gotten in plenty of fights with he had Ron. Where would she be? The library.
Harry left in search of her. He found her reading a large tome about plants and fungi. She must have heard him come but she didn't look up at him. Several minutes later they still stood in silence; or rather Harry was awkwardly standing and she was seated with a book.
"Hermione?"
She ignored him.
"Hermione, you may not want to talk to me but at least hear me out."
Still nothing.
"Hermione, I'm here to apologize."
She looked up. "Okay, start talking."
"I'm sorry. I guess you guys were looking out for me and I just exploded. I shouldn't have kept any secrets from any of you."
"I can understand why you did. It's your own business how much you tell us about you're parents past. Whether you wanted to say anything about them being in the Order was up to you and we really should have waited until you were ready to tell us about the Tower and the Papers. I'd like to see the papers written by your parents sometime."
"Maybe I'll show them to you if I go back to that Tower. But if you find the Tower yourself, my mom was Starliner and my dad was Featherflyer. I don't know why he didn't just stick to Prongs though."
"Apology accepted."
"I've got a few more to take care too. Any idea where Ron is?"
"Probably the common room."
"Thanks." Harry left the library. One down, but still two more to go.
He found Ron in the common room, building a card castle with his Exploding Snap cards.
"Hey Ron."
"What do you want? I'm in the middle of something."
"Look Ron, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you guys."
"I forgive you. I'm sorry too, for not stopping Renata."
"Forget it. You just keeping her from messing up the spell and messing up my head."
Ron grinned. "Yeah it's messed up enough already. So what did you mean by 'I know how you feel about Hermione'?"
"Oh, that was nothing. Really."
Ron frowned a minute then changed to a grin. "Here help with this castle. So what did you mean last week about overhearing Hermione and Renata talking after you came out of the hospital?"
"Oh. After we went up to the dorm that night I came back down the stairs to get my Transfiguration homework and I stopped on the stairs when I heard Renata and Hermione having a fight. I came down to get my work once they were gone but I still didn't understand their argument."
"What do you think it was about?"
"They were arguing about someone. Then Renata said that Hermione was just upset and really stressed out."
"Hmmm."
"I need to look for Renata. Do you know where she is?"
"I think she left awhile ago to go flying."
"Okay, thanks." Harry went upstairs to get his broom and came down.
Okay, he thought as he made his way down the steps of the castle with his broom over his shoulder, only one apology left. And it was the hardest one. Things should be easier if they were flying. If she ignored him now he'd just wait to talk to her until after Quiditch practice. Harry went to the Quiditch stadium and found it empty.
He emerged from it and looked skyward. He saw a speck soaring above. Must be Renata.
Harry launched himself into the air on his broom. His Firebolt could catch up to her.
He flew close enough to see her face, "Renata!"
She didn't respond.
"Renata! I need to talk to you!"
She sped her broom away.
Fine, be that way, he thought. He could tell this wouldn't be easy. Harry sped up the broom flying closer to her. "Renata! Cut it out already!"
She kept flying.
"I can't talk to you if you won't stop!"
At last she answered. "You have to catch me first!" She flew in loops and circles. At last, seeing Harry wouldn't give up she flew back toward the castle and landed on top of one of the towers.
They waited a minute to catch their breath, and then Renata spoke.
"So you said you wanted to say something, what is it? I'm listening."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
Harry looked at her as if she was crazy.
She answered, she had gained back her old humor but her voice was still icy. "You can't apologize without knowing what you did wrong. If you don't know, well, then your apology is worthless and pointless."
"You really don't want to make this easy, do you?"
She tossed her head. "Of course not. Why should I? I've no reason to, and you know it."
Harry couldn't help grinning just a little. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all where I was last Friday."
"Go on."
"You weren't kidding when you said you weren't going to make this easy. Everything you said about me was true. I'm impatient and stubborn."
"And arrogant," she reminded him.
"You really think so?"
"Just a little. You gotta learn when to say, 'Help me please, somebody, I can't do this alone.' You can't face the world by yourself Harry. No one can. That's why other people exist. And as for keeping secrets, we all do."
He looked at her skeptically.
"Of course we do," she said. "Think about it. Your parents switched secret keepers but they didn't tell Dumbledore, they didn't tell Lupin, they didn't tell anyone. You can speak Parseltongue but you don't go shout out to the world 'Hey everybody, I talk to snakes in my spare time.' We all keep secrets, Harry. Its in our nature."
"Name one thing you never told anybody."
"When I was four I had a mad crush on Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh. And when I was seven I was sure I fell in love with Peter Pan. Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Okay maybe I'm a bit crazy but everyone is. Come on, you never had a crush on a person who wasn't real?"
"Don't think so."
"With all the princesses in those Disney movies you never had a crush on any of them? How about someone from a book? Jasmine? Sleeping Beauty? Belle? Cinderella? Ariel from The Little Mermaid, right? A nice redhead and she sings. Come on, none of them?"
"I don't get crushes on cartoons. By the way, mermaids look nothing like Ariel."
"Interesting, I'd love to hear the fascinating story behind that one sometime. As of now I'd have to say Peter Pan. But Frodo Baggins isn't bad either"
"You are crazy."
"I know. It's one of the benefits of being me. Now here's one of the other benefits of being me: I'm sorry. See? I know when I'm wrong and need to apologize. I exploded last week too. It wasn't just you."
"Forget it. Want to go flying before everyone comes out for practice?"
"I got a better idea. Follow me." Renata, broom between her legs, jumped off the tower. Midair she did a one-eighty turn to face Harry. "Come on, follow me."
Harry jumped on his broom and followed her. They flew until they reached the Gryffindor Tower. Renata and he waited just to the side of the window.
"Too bad it's locked," she whispered. "Guess I'll have to knock." She kicked the window with her foot, Harry behind her.
Renata looked into the window and backed off. "Never mind Harry. Wrong window. Come on the common room window is down this way." They flew down to the window; it was open. Renata whispered, "Good, Hermione and Ron are there. I'm going to fly in and then you fly in right after me. Ha! They are going to so freak. 1.2.3.Go!" Renata flew in the open window, Harry followed closely.
"Surprise!"
"Hi!"
Ron and Hermione came over. "We all friends again?"
"Sure thing."
"I'm surprised you both fit through the window."
"We've got some catching up to do. So why don't we all go eat dinner together now and then we can talk again when Renata and I get back from Quiditch practice."
"Sounds like a good plan."
Laughing like he hadn't laughed in a week Harry went down with his friends to the Great Hall walking abreast with their arms draped over each others' shoulders.
Harry passed Draco, who still hadn't let up about Harry being stuck in the tree.
"Potter you've got a whole flock of birds now! How lovely!"
Harry could hear the sniggering Slytherins and he considered ignoring them but came up with a better idea. The whole line of them turned to face the Slytherins and Harry called, "Malfoy! You should just concentrate on walking and try not to let your mind wander. Its too small to be out by itself." Laughing they turned back around. He couldn't see but Harry was almost sure Draco blushed at being made fun of in front of so many people.
"Nice one, Harry."
"Thanks."
They spent the next hour catching up.
"So did you guys find anything new?"
"Not yet but we were looking."
"Me too and I came up blank. Tomorrow I'm going back to the Tower. Do any of you want to come?"
"Most definitely."
"Of course."
"Wouldn't miss it."
"Great. Renata, we've got to go to practice."
"Right. We've got to go back to Gryffindor Tower for our brooms first."
"Right."
"We're going back to the Tower anyway will walk with you."
The four of them reached Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Renata went to look for their brooms while Ron and Hermione set up to play Chess. Harry and Renata both came back down to the common room at the same time.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Most definitely."
Brooms between their legs they jumped out the window.
They flew down to the Quiditch field where the rest of the team was waiting.
Harry shouted just for the fun of it. "Everyone start your warm up laps!" Practice was much more relaxed and jovial that night, much more so than it had been the last week.
At the end of practice Harry and Renata locked the broom shed and walked back up to the castle. They decided they'd be in too much trouble if a professor caught them flying through windows.
They reached the common room and the four of them discussed how they spent the week.
It turned out that Ron, Hermione, and Renata hadn't spent much of the week together.
"I spent a lot of time alone in my room and most of the rest of the time on the Quiditch field. Screaming just for the fun of it, really, it's a great stress reliever you know," Renata told them.
Hermione said, "I spent most of my time in the library."
"What about you Ron?" asked Harry.
"I spent some time with Fred and George."
Harry asked, "But you guys were all mad at me, not each other. You could have all hung out."
Renata smiled. "Its your fault the rest of us weren't hanging out you know, Harry."
Harry jaw dropped in surprise.
"You gave us an earful to listen to and head-full to think about. More so even after I left from what I hear."
Harry flushed.
"Let's hear the message." Renata extracted a small stone from her pocket. "It has got a spell on it. Records whatever it hears when the spell is activated. I listened to the message once through let's listen again. Harry why were you so loud? I had to lower the volume on this thing. All right let's listen. Repitas!"
The stone emitted barely audible whispers and then Harry's voice rose loud and clear. " 'Who does she think she is? Telling me what to do! She had no right to go listen to my head! Of course I trust my friends but it doesn't mean I tell them everything! What am I supposed to do keep paper with me so I can write notes on everything anyone says to me and hand out copies to everyone? Of course I care about my friends! Who does she think she is? Ron why did you tell her how to read minds!' "
" 'I didn't! I didn't know this until today but she read you Divination book when you were in the hospital'," Ron's voice called.
" 'Why didn't either of you try to stop her, I thought you were my friends.' " Harry again.
Hermione's voice came. " 'Harry we are your friends and so is she. If you.' "
" 'What?' " Harry's voice demanded.
" 'Harry we couldn't stop her once we realized what she was doing. If we did try you could have seriously been hurt,' " Ron again.
" 'Really Ron? Would you like me to tell Hermione what you think of her? Oh, and Hermione, I heard you and Renata talking the night after I was out of the hospital.' " Harry's voice on the stone ended and he spoke.
"It was right after that that Hermione and Ron sent me into a tree."
They all laughed.
Renata stopped laughing long enough to speak again. "What I think is interesting is that last part."
Harry appeared to color slightly again. "That."
"No Harry, I understood it. What I am trying to figure out is how much you understood."
"Which part of the last part? The first or the second?"
"The second. I can take a good guess at the first but it's really only my opinion."
"What about the second?"
"I'll give you a hint: not you."
Ron nudged Harry, "Would you two mind speaking English?"
Renata smiled. "Sorry Ron. Just figuring out how well he pays attention."
The four of them stayed up late talking. Finally Hermione proclaimed she was tired and went upstairs, Ron retired soon after she did.
Ron asked Harry, "Are you coming?"
"I'll be up in a minute."
Ron shrugged and went up to the dorm.
Renata turned to Harry, "How much do you know?"
"I didn't hear names."
"Okay so you came about mid-argument."
"Wait, I did hear names once. You said 'You, me, Harry and Ron, we're all friends'."
"Okay, harmless enough."
"What's your guess about the first part?"
"Oh, I definitely think you know what I think. And that you agree with me."
"Why are we still talking like this?"
"You never know who's on the stairs," she grinned.
"So, what did you think?"
"Oh she definitely likes him. That's obvious."
"She does?" Harry was shocked it had never crossed his mind. "But what about Krum?"
"Her parents love to travel and they think it's educational for her. They went to France one year and this summer it was Bulgaria. She only spent one day with Viktor Krum while she was there. She watched a Quiditch practice and then her parents, Krum's parents, Krum, and her went out to dinner. Then Hermione told him she just wanted to be friends."
"I didn't know that."
"Why would you know that? Harry you've got to keep your eyes peeled and your ears open. You'd be surprised how much you miss. A person would think you'd always walked around deaf and blind, eyes and ears should always be open. Goodnight." She went upstairs.
Harry after a few rather flabbergasted moments Harry went up the boys' staircases and went to sleep.