Chapter 2: re-meetings and re-tellings
The entrance hall of Grimmauld place was completely silent, and much neater since the last time Harry had been here. Snape had disappeared, muttering something about a meeting. It seemed that Harry was alone in this place until either Hermione or Ron showed up. Harry dragged his trunk to the room he had occupied previously; he opened the door and found that it was already occupied. A small, brown-haired girl sat in the middle of the floor, and seemed to be conversing with the painting placed between two four poster beds.
"Heh. You must have been a horrible head if they did THAT to you." She was saying, laughing appreciatively.
"Excuse me! It is not for you to make that assessment! Those students were unruly and highly disrespectful!" Phinus Nigelus yelled back to her.
"Well...I wonder why they were.." The girl said, still giggling. Harry dropped his trunk on the floor staring at the girl. She turned around in surprise.
"Oh! Hello, you must be Harry!" She said politely, completely disregarding Finnius' continued sputtering. Harry raised his eyebrows slightly, usually people were quite certain it was he, they never had to make any assessment.
"Err...yea..." He said. The girl stood up from her place on the floor, she was quite short, coming only to Harry's chin. Her hair was dark brown, and had a red streak that hang over her delicate face. She wore brown, square-rimmed glasses that hid stunning blue eyes. Her clothes were very peculiar, her black baggy shirt seemed to be borrowed from someone that was much larger then she was, and her khaki pants with several cargo pockets also seemed rather large for her short stature. To top it off, she wore many necklaces and bracelets with lethal looking spikes on them. She sidled over to Harry and produced her hand for Harry to shake.
"Hello! I'm Aggie Kuioph." She said in an almost business-like way. Harry shook her hand awkwardly.
"Is this room...err...occupied?" Harry said, looking around.
"Oh, no. I just come in here to talk to him." The girl called Aggie said pointing to the painting on the opposite wall. "I suppose you would want proper explanation of who I am? Well...I'm a 3rd year Hufflepuff. So, that's probably why you haven't ever seen me before. I'm a friend of Tonks. Her neighbour really, me mum and dad went off to somewhere in Africa, their both archaeologists. She promised to watch me." Aggie said this all very quickly.
"Ok then..." Said Harry, not the least bit interested.
"Well...I'll leave you to it then. I s'ppose the order is about done their meetings..." Aggie said, drifting pass Harry and closing the door as she left. Harry looked around the room, for some reason he was depressed. The painting was silent now. Harry walked over and collapsed on a bed, and stared up at the canvass of the four-poster bed. His mind, as it so often did, dwelled on Sirius' last living moments. His screams of pain, the look of sheer horror on his face as he had fallen through the archway... Harry hastily wiped his eyes, as tears had formed there. He would have hated for Ron or Hermione to see him like this. Harry rolled over onto his stomach and sniffed slightly. The loss of his godfather weighed so heavily on his heart, he couldn't bare to think about it...
The door of the bedroom opened.
"Harry! Dinner!" Said Aggie's voice, cheerfully. Harry lay silent. He didn't want to go down to dinner. "Er...sleeping? I'll tell Mrs. Weasley to save something for you then." She said, closing the door as she left. Harry rubbed his eyes. He seemed to have fallen asleep. His stomach rumbled loudly, he hadn't eaten in ages. Harry stood up, ran his fingers irritable through his hair, and walked down to the kitchen. There he found, not only Mrs. Weasley, but also what seemed to be all of the Order. A very ashen- faced Mundungus Fletcher sat next to Fred and George Weasley, who were both wearing one of their headless hats. Mad-eye-moody was watching both of them with both his eyes, his expression very curious, yet suspicious. Tonks was squeezed in between Aggie and Ginny, who were both awing over her new choice of hair colour, rainbow. To Harry's immense surprise, and disgust, Albus Dumbledore was sitting beside a very irritated looking Snape. Harry's eyes roved around the table as every face turned towards him.
"Where's Ron and Hermione?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"Harry dear! Decided to come down then? Ron and Hermione? I haven't seen them in awhile..." Mrs. Weasley said, grinning and presenting Harry with a plate of rolls. Harry took one and sat down, slightly hurt that Ron and Hermione weren't even going to bother to say hello to him. Every person at the table (except for Snape) greeted Harry enthusiastically. The dinner was very enjoyable, and Harry half forgot about Ron and Hermione, Fred and George entertained everyone with their Face changing charms, which produced an array of impressions of various people around the table. Snape, it seemed, was not too impressed with his impression. After dinner had ended, and Mrs. Weasley had presented desert, everyone said their goodbyes and either disappeared upstairs, or disapperated. The only people left was Aggie and Tonks, who were helping clean up. Harry was about to go upstairs when he heard two pairs of approaching feet from behind him. He turned and found Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway.
"Ron! Hermione!" Harry said, dropping the plate back on the table. "Why didn't you come down to dinner?" Harry asked. They both stared at him with an odd expression, as if he had walked in on something they were doing.
"Wasn't hungry." Said Ron shortly.
"Oh...Er...ok. So, where were you?"
"No where. Just around." Said Hermione. Harry stared at them, his eyebrows raised.
"Something wrong?" Harry inquired, slightly concerned.
"No. We Er...Kind of tired. See you tomorrow Harry." Said Ron turning back towards the door. Harry walked up behind him and grabbed his arm.
"Hey wait! Do—"
"Get off me!" Ron said, pulling his arm sharply out of Harry's grasp, glaring at him.
"What's up? You're acting kind of odd." Harry said, taking a step back.
"There's nothing wrong, Ok? Just leave us alone!" Ron said angrily, stomping away.
"Us? Hermione? What's..." Harry began. Hermione too glared at him and walked after Ron. Harry was taken aback. What had he done to deserve this kind of treatment? He felt rather put down. He stood there, staring after their retreating backs.
"Acting odd aren't they? I thought so too..." Said Aggie's voice from behind him.
"Yea...I mean...the—They've never acted like this before." Harry said, he was slightly hurt by his friends behaviour. Perhaps it was just because they were tired. Harry would try again in the morning...yes that had to be it.
The next morning dawned, and Harry went down to breakfast, sleepy, yet happy that he was anywhere else but the Dursleys. He spotted Ron sitting alone at the end of the table and walked over to sit next to him.
"Hello Ron." Said Harry, reaching for a piece of toast.
"Oh. That seat is saved. Sorry." Said Ron without even looking at him. He certainly did not sound sorry. Harry, feeling irritable now of Ron's ignorant behaviour, did not move.
"Ron! What's the matter with you? You're acting as though I'm Malfoy or something! I'm Harry, your best friend!" Harry reminded him.
"Yea? Well maybe I don't want to be best friends with you!" Ron snarled, glaring at Harry as though he were a particularly large pile of dung. Harry was taken aback by this sudden abandonment of friendship.
"Ron. Is he bothering you again?' came Hermione's voice from behind him.
"No Hermione, its ok. He was just leaving." Said Ron grudgingly. Harry stood up and threw the piece of toast at Ron, with all the strength he could muster, then stomped away to the end of the table, where he took a seat beside Ginny.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, sipping her tea.
"Oh. So I suppose your talking to me?" Harry said coldly.
"Sorry for being concerned!" Ginny snapped. Standing up.
"Ginny, don't...I'm sorry. Its just, Ron and Hermione—"
"Are acting like complete idiots." Ginny finished for him, glaring down at the duo, who seemed to be arguing over the state of Ron's hair.
"What's up with them?" Harry asked, watching them closely with narrowed eyes.
"Well. It all started right after school let out." Ginny said, looking back at Harry. "Hermione came just a week after, and she was acting...well, she was acting downright rude. She stomped in an insulted everything in sight. Mum was in a right state, sobbing her eyes out over how insulted she was. Ron was acting normal before she came. Then, over the night, he was acting the same way. Being insulting to everyone and everything. He refused to get along with anyone. He even fought with Hermione, I mean more than usual that is. They would get in terrible rows over stupid things, shake the whole first floor so that mum would have dust all in her hair." Ginny said, staring off into space.
"Hm..." Harry said. Staring down at the pair who were quarrelling over how much tea Ron had in his cup.
"Maybe Voldemort has something to do with it..." Harry muttered. Ginny flinched horribly, throwing boiling water and tea leaves all over the table.
"Y-you know who? I doubt it...He has much more important things to do then make two teenagers fight all the time." Ginny said, clearing up the mess with a towel.
"Yea...I suppose your right..." Harry said, standing up. "I'm going to look around—maybe I can find something." Harry half-whispered. Glancing down at Ron and Hermione again. Ginny gave him a thin lipped smile and nodded. Ascending the stairs in an almost spy-like fashion, Harry came to the door of Hermione's lodging. He pushed the door open, an odd smell of what seemed to be mint and parsley drifted out of the room. Pinching his nose, Harry walked inside. The room was dark, and although it was mid summer, had a chill to it that no other room held. Her large four poster bed was neatly made, and on the table beside it was the source of the parsley-mint smell was made apparent; A candle was burning. Harry picked it up to use as a light source, as he pinched his nose with one hand, and held the candle with the other. The flickering light fell onto the bed, throwing it into sharper detail. Amongst the folded covers and pillows, there was a small book, clumsily hidden inside one of the pillows. Harry un-pinched his nose and reached for the book, his good manners that this might be something private getting the better of him. Slowly he unearthed the book from the pillow, being sure not to make it seem as though someone had been there, he almost had it out—
"HARRY!" Yelled a voice from behind him. Harry dropped the book and spun around. Hermione was standing in the doorway, her face twisted into a look of pure hate. Ron lurked sulkily behind her, also glaring at Harry. "YOU—OUT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?" Hermione snarled, walking up and snatching the candle in the book out of Harry's hand, but not before Harry caught a glimpse of the front cover— "I said GET OUT! This is my private business!" Hermione shouted at him, pointing towards the door. Harry, turned without speaking and stalked out, passing Ron without even looking at him. Ron walked inside the room and slammed the door so hard, dust fell from the ceiling.
The entrance hall of Grimmauld place was completely silent, and much neater since the last time Harry had been here. Snape had disappeared, muttering something about a meeting. It seemed that Harry was alone in this place until either Hermione or Ron showed up. Harry dragged his trunk to the room he had occupied previously; he opened the door and found that it was already occupied. A small, brown-haired girl sat in the middle of the floor, and seemed to be conversing with the painting placed between two four poster beds.
"Heh. You must have been a horrible head if they did THAT to you." She was saying, laughing appreciatively.
"Excuse me! It is not for you to make that assessment! Those students were unruly and highly disrespectful!" Phinus Nigelus yelled back to her.
"Well...I wonder why they were.." The girl said, still giggling. Harry dropped his trunk on the floor staring at the girl. She turned around in surprise.
"Oh! Hello, you must be Harry!" She said politely, completely disregarding Finnius' continued sputtering. Harry raised his eyebrows slightly, usually people were quite certain it was he, they never had to make any assessment.
"Err...yea..." He said. The girl stood up from her place on the floor, she was quite short, coming only to Harry's chin. Her hair was dark brown, and had a red streak that hang over her delicate face. She wore brown, square-rimmed glasses that hid stunning blue eyes. Her clothes were very peculiar, her black baggy shirt seemed to be borrowed from someone that was much larger then she was, and her khaki pants with several cargo pockets also seemed rather large for her short stature. To top it off, she wore many necklaces and bracelets with lethal looking spikes on them. She sidled over to Harry and produced her hand for Harry to shake.
"Hello! I'm Aggie Kuioph." She said in an almost business-like way. Harry shook her hand awkwardly.
"Is this room...err...occupied?" Harry said, looking around.
"Oh, no. I just come in here to talk to him." The girl called Aggie said pointing to the painting on the opposite wall. "I suppose you would want proper explanation of who I am? Well...I'm a 3rd year Hufflepuff. So, that's probably why you haven't ever seen me before. I'm a friend of Tonks. Her neighbour really, me mum and dad went off to somewhere in Africa, their both archaeologists. She promised to watch me." Aggie said this all very quickly.
"Ok then..." Said Harry, not the least bit interested.
"Well...I'll leave you to it then. I s'ppose the order is about done their meetings..." Aggie said, drifting pass Harry and closing the door as she left. Harry looked around the room, for some reason he was depressed. The painting was silent now. Harry walked over and collapsed on a bed, and stared up at the canvass of the four-poster bed. His mind, as it so often did, dwelled on Sirius' last living moments. His screams of pain, the look of sheer horror on his face as he had fallen through the archway... Harry hastily wiped his eyes, as tears had formed there. He would have hated for Ron or Hermione to see him like this. Harry rolled over onto his stomach and sniffed slightly. The loss of his godfather weighed so heavily on his heart, he couldn't bare to think about it...
The door of the bedroom opened.
"Harry! Dinner!" Said Aggie's voice, cheerfully. Harry lay silent. He didn't want to go down to dinner. "Er...sleeping? I'll tell Mrs. Weasley to save something for you then." She said, closing the door as she left. Harry rubbed his eyes. He seemed to have fallen asleep. His stomach rumbled loudly, he hadn't eaten in ages. Harry stood up, ran his fingers irritable through his hair, and walked down to the kitchen. There he found, not only Mrs. Weasley, but also what seemed to be all of the Order. A very ashen- faced Mundungus Fletcher sat next to Fred and George Weasley, who were both wearing one of their headless hats. Mad-eye-moody was watching both of them with both his eyes, his expression very curious, yet suspicious. Tonks was squeezed in between Aggie and Ginny, who were both awing over her new choice of hair colour, rainbow. To Harry's immense surprise, and disgust, Albus Dumbledore was sitting beside a very irritated looking Snape. Harry's eyes roved around the table as every face turned towards him.
"Where's Ron and Hermione?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"Harry dear! Decided to come down then? Ron and Hermione? I haven't seen them in awhile..." Mrs. Weasley said, grinning and presenting Harry with a plate of rolls. Harry took one and sat down, slightly hurt that Ron and Hermione weren't even going to bother to say hello to him. Every person at the table (except for Snape) greeted Harry enthusiastically. The dinner was very enjoyable, and Harry half forgot about Ron and Hermione, Fred and George entertained everyone with their Face changing charms, which produced an array of impressions of various people around the table. Snape, it seemed, was not too impressed with his impression. After dinner had ended, and Mrs. Weasley had presented desert, everyone said their goodbyes and either disappeared upstairs, or disapperated. The only people left was Aggie and Tonks, who were helping clean up. Harry was about to go upstairs when he heard two pairs of approaching feet from behind him. He turned and found Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway.
"Ron! Hermione!" Harry said, dropping the plate back on the table. "Why didn't you come down to dinner?" Harry asked. They both stared at him with an odd expression, as if he had walked in on something they were doing.
"Wasn't hungry." Said Ron shortly.
"Oh...Er...ok. So, where were you?"
"No where. Just around." Said Hermione. Harry stared at them, his eyebrows raised.
"Something wrong?" Harry inquired, slightly concerned.
"No. We Er...Kind of tired. See you tomorrow Harry." Said Ron turning back towards the door. Harry walked up behind him and grabbed his arm.
"Hey wait! Do—"
"Get off me!" Ron said, pulling his arm sharply out of Harry's grasp, glaring at him.
"What's up? You're acting kind of odd." Harry said, taking a step back.
"There's nothing wrong, Ok? Just leave us alone!" Ron said angrily, stomping away.
"Us? Hermione? What's..." Harry began. Hermione too glared at him and walked after Ron. Harry was taken aback. What had he done to deserve this kind of treatment? He felt rather put down. He stood there, staring after their retreating backs.
"Acting odd aren't they? I thought so too..." Said Aggie's voice from behind him.
"Yea...I mean...the—They've never acted like this before." Harry said, he was slightly hurt by his friends behaviour. Perhaps it was just because they were tired. Harry would try again in the morning...yes that had to be it.
The next morning dawned, and Harry went down to breakfast, sleepy, yet happy that he was anywhere else but the Dursleys. He spotted Ron sitting alone at the end of the table and walked over to sit next to him.
"Hello Ron." Said Harry, reaching for a piece of toast.
"Oh. That seat is saved. Sorry." Said Ron without even looking at him. He certainly did not sound sorry. Harry, feeling irritable now of Ron's ignorant behaviour, did not move.
"Ron! What's the matter with you? You're acting as though I'm Malfoy or something! I'm Harry, your best friend!" Harry reminded him.
"Yea? Well maybe I don't want to be best friends with you!" Ron snarled, glaring at Harry as though he were a particularly large pile of dung. Harry was taken aback by this sudden abandonment of friendship.
"Ron. Is he bothering you again?' came Hermione's voice from behind him.
"No Hermione, its ok. He was just leaving." Said Ron grudgingly. Harry stood up and threw the piece of toast at Ron, with all the strength he could muster, then stomped away to the end of the table, where he took a seat beside Ginny.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, sipping her tea.
"Oh. So I suppose your talking to me?" Harry said coldly.
"Sorry for being concerned!" Ginny snapped. Standing up.
"Ginny, don't...I'm sorry. Its just, Ron and Hermione—"
"Are acting like complete idiots." Ginny finished for him, glaring down at the duo, who seemed to be arguing over the state of Ron's hair.
"What's up with them?" Harry asked, watching them closely with narrowed eyes.
"Well. It all started right after school let out." Ginny said, looking back at Harry. "Hermione came just a week after, and she was acting...well, she was acting downright rude. She stomped in an insulted everything in sight. Mum was in a right state, sobbing her eyes out over how insulted she was. Ron was acting normal before she came. Then, over the night, he was acting the same way. Being insulting to everyone and everything. He refused to get along with anyone. He even fought with Hermione, I mean more than usual that is. They would get in terrible rows over stupid things, shake the whole first floor so that mum would have dust all in her hair." Ginny said, staring off into space.
"Hm..." Harry said. Staring down at the pair who were quarrelling over how much tea Ron had in his cup.
"Maybe Voldemort has something to do with it..." Harry muttered. Ginny flinched horribly, throwing boiling water and tea leaves all over the table.
"Y-you know who? I doubt it...He has much more important things to do then make two teenagers fight all the time." Ginny said, clearing up the mess with a towel.
"Yea...I suppose your right..." Harry said, standing up. "I'm going to look around—maybe I can find something." Harry half-whispered. Glancing down at Ron and Hermione again. Ginny gave him a thin lipped smile and nodded. Ascending the stairs in an almost spy-like fashion, Harry came to the door of Hermione's lodging. He pushed the door open, an odd smell of what seemed to be mint and parsley drifted out of the room. Pinching his nose, Harry walked inside. The room was dark, and although it was mid summer, had a chill to it that no other room held. Her large four poster bed was neatly made, and on the table beside it was the source of the parsley-mint smell was made apparent; A candle was burning. Harry picked it up to use as a light source, as he pinched his nose with one hand, and held the candle with the other. The flickering light fell onto the bed, throwing it into sharper detail. Amongst the folded covers and pillows, there was a small book, clumsily hidden inside one of the pillows. Harry un-pinched his nose and reached for the book, his good manners that this might be something private getting the better of him. Slowly he unearthed the book from the pillow, being sure not to make it seem as though someone had been there, he almost had it out—
"HARRY!" Yelled a voice from behind him. Harry dropped the book and spun around. Hermione was standing in the doorway, her face twisted into a look of pure hate. Ron lurked sulkily behind her, also glaring at Harry. "YOU—OUT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?" Hermione snarled, walking up and snatching the candle in the book out of Harry's hand, but not before Harry caught a glimpse of the front cover— "I said GET OUT! This is my private business!" Hermione shouted at him, pointing towards the door. Harry, turned without speaking and stalked out, passing Ron without even looking at him. Ron walked inside the room and slammed the door so hard, dust fell from the ceiling.