Disclaimer:I don't own any characters yet…but I will.

A/N: Please let me know if I miss and classes! It's really important. I want this to be believable. R&R please.

Chapter 5: Secrets

The rest of the summer passed without much incident. They received their OWL results. Harry was quite happy with his marks.

Transfiguration

E

Charms

E

Potions

O

History of Magic

D

DADA

O

Divination

D

CoMC

A

He really had done quite well. Hermione of course had at least an E in everything. Parvati had done about as well as Harry, though she had passed Divination and failed Care of Magical Creatures.

Ron on the other hand, was suffering. He had actually done quite well, but considering he was a prefect his mother expected him to do much better.

So when Septamber the 1st rolled around, Ron was in a very bad mood.

~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Parvati were to be found in a compartment at the back of the train, talking quietly in eachothers ears. In fact, Parvati was sitting on Harry's lap.

This was how Ron found them.

Close together, laughing quietly, Parvati's lips brushing Harry's ear. They didn't notice Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway. Hermione, of course, pretended not to know.

Ron stared at them for about a minute. Then Parvati kissed Harry on the lips and cuddled up close against him. Ron grunted quietly and walked away, his ears bright crimson.

Hermione cleared her throat. Harry and Parvati both jumped.

"Wha-oh Hermione. What's up?" said Harry, clearly happy about his position.

"What's up?! In case you didn't-oh wait you didn't notice. Ron just saw you cuddled up there. And he didn't seem very happy about it. Not very happy at all."

Parvati gasped. "But-but-what should-what should we do?" she wailed.

"I-I'll go-I'll go find Ron and- I'll talk to him. I hope he'll listen. For his own sake, I hope he will. Don't worry."

"Oh we won't," they answered in unison.

~*~*~*~*~

"Ron! Ron, where are you, Ron? Oh hi, Malfoy. Where is he?"

"What the hell are you looking for that dufus for, Granger?"

"A little misunderstanding," said Hermione her mind clearly elsewhere.

Malfoy snorted. "What'd you do, stop him from kissing you?"

Hermione rounded on him. "What?!" She took a deep breath. "Leave me alone, Malfoy. I have better things to do than talk to you." She kicked him in a sore spot *laughs* and he fell into an open compartment door.

There was a sudden snort of laughter behind her. She whirled around. Ron was standing there.

"Nice one Hermione. I'll remember that. Would you actually want to kiss me?"

Hermione blushed a deep red. "I-I-" she stuttured.

"Never mind," said Ron, his eyes looking very cold and hurt. "On the subject of  couples though, what's with Harry and Parvati? I thought she hated him."

"Ron. I-"

"I know you know, Hermione. Tell me please, for my sake. I don't like being the target of secrets."

"Ron, I-I-I promised. I'm sorry, I promised," she wailed

"Think I care? You're just a common girl Hermione. I don't need you or Harry. Back to business. How long has it been going on now? A month?"

"How'd you-" Hermione was weak with loneliness.

"Ginny told me. She saw everything from the bushes. She saw me storming around and guessed I already knew something. So she told me all she knew. Don't worry, I'm not speaking to her either." Ron stormed off in the direction of the prefect's compartment.

Hermione stared at his retreating back. She felt tears spring into her eyes. She let them come. Didn't he know that no one had meant to hurt him? Didn't he know that they just wanted him to be happy? She burst in to distressed tears.

~*~*~*~*~

Harry sighed. He knew this was going to happen. "Ron is being an idiot. He should know we meant good."

Hermione nodded and wailed. She was thouroughly distressed about Ron's behaviour. Normally she would just scoff. He must have said something…something that had hurt her a lot. Harry sighed again. This was going to take a lot of fixing.

~*~*~*~*~

"The perfect plan, Lucius, perfect."

"Thank you, my Lord."

"It won't be long now."

"No, my Lord, it will not."

"Please make the proper arrangements."

"Yes, my Lord. Right away."

"Do not fail me Lucius."

"No my Lord. All will go well. Harry Potter will die at the hands of his friends…"

A/N: Finally, I got this up. It's actually been written for like two months. I have up to Chapter 17 written. I'll probly post really slow though *sigh*