Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or do I? No, I don't. Now read while
I wallow in that awful feeling that I don't own Harry.
A/N- This chapter has a part with a lot of bad words in it, so you might be
cautioned. I am labeling this chapter a rated R chapter.
Harry looked at the letter in amazement. He read it many times before he could actually believe its contents. Dear Harry,
I'm not dead. Meet me at your next trip to Hogsmeade at the Shrieking Shack. Bring only Hermione and Ron. Sirius
Harry couldn't believe what he held in his hands, a letter from Sirius telling Harry to meet him. His hands started to shake and he held onto the table tightly to keep people from noticing. Carmen turned to him when she saw his white knuckles on the table.
"Harry, are you alright?" she asked.
Harry just nodded his head and loosened his grip. Harry left the table and walked to the common room to find when the next Hogsmeade trip would be. It turned out to be coming soon, that weekend. Harry went to get his books and went to his first class of the day. He sat silently in his Potions class, not really thinking about what was going on. Thankfully Boyd had them on bookwork, so it was easy to let his mind wander. When the class was over, Harry wandered to his Defence class nodding occasionally to the conversation going on between Ron and Carmen, who got a distinct feeling that Harry wasn't listening so they started to talk about purple elephants.
"Yes, those purple elephants are known to kill," said Carmen looking intently at Harry, who nodded say "Yes, quite right."
Ron and Carmen looked at each other with worried eyes, but when they asked what was wrong, Harry just nodded. Snape seemed to have kept his good (well if you can call it good) mood throughout the first week and was silent to the fact that Harry wasn't paying attention. Ron and Carmen helped Harry out of the class, since he seemed to forget that class was over. They sat in the hall and just stared at Harry for a while. Hermione came in and watched him too. She had noticed how he had reacted to that letter that morning; he seemed to have seen a ghost. What could the letter have said? They finished their classes for that day and Harry had to go to Occlumency with Dumbledore, even though he didn't feel like it. He felt like riding his broom into the sun and getting lost, getting away from all of the stuff that was going on.
"Is something troubling you Harry?" asked Dumbledore when he saw him.
Harry shook his head and got ready for class. Dumbledore emptied thoughts into the Pensieve then got ready for the lesson.
"Dumbledore, wait!" Harry shouted, as Dumbledore got ready to say his spell.
"Is there a problem Harry?" Dumbledore said backing off.
"I got a letter from Sirius today," Harry said.
Dumbledore sighed and walked over to his desk. "Harry, I knew that Sirius was not dead, and I instructed him not to tell you until I told him it was safe, but it is obvious he didn't heed my warning. Harry, only those who deserve to die actually fall to their peril in the Veil, but you have to understand. Sirius didn't deserve to die there, because he is meant to die somewhere else. I thought that by having you not know about his being alive, you might not think your dreams were real. Harry you must meet him where he asked, but be careful. Don't let anyone follow you, and don't write him back. You may leave. I have important buisness to attend to."
Harry walked slowly back to the Gryffindor Tower, sighing. Harry stepped into the comfortable common room and saw that everyone was gone except for Carmen, who was reading a book by the fire. Harry sat next to her and started his homework.
"What book are you reading?" he asked.
"The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. It's about King Arthur and the nights of the round table, mostly Lancelot," she said without looking up.
Harry nodded and then went back to his homework. Carmen finally looked up from her book and stared at Harry. Harry felt like he was being watched and looked up to confirm his suspicion. "Is there something wrong?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. Harry you've been really out of it today, are you sure you're okay?" she said placing her book to the side.
Harry fought with himself to decide whether he should tell her. He knew that he didn't want to keep secrets from her, but he couldn't put Sirius in trouble. She was Dumbledore's granddaughter, maybe she knew about Sirius being good and that he was Harry's godfather, but he couldn't betray Sirius. "I can't talk about it. I'm sorry; I would love to tell you. I want you to know everything about me and I want to know everything about you, but I can't. I will tell you one day, but I can't right now. Is that okay?"
Carmen just smiled at him. "Of course it's fine, I just wanted to make sure no one was dying or coming back to life. But you are okay, right?"
"Yeah," he said smiling at her as she picked her book back up and started to read again. He thought about what Hermione and Ron had been saying. Why hadn't he asked her out yet? "Um...Carmen?"
Carmen looked up from her book and Harry wished he hadn't said anything. Saying it his head was hard enough, but would he be able to survive saying it out loud? "Uh..."
Carmen laughed and Harry got a little of his nerve back. "Um..." well I said a little, not a heap. "Well...um...erm...uh Carmen, I was wondering. I would...um...I would like to well, I mean you don't have to, but if you would like to, I was wondering if you could, um...well, maybe we could go out?"
Carmen laughed even harder, making Harry's confidence fly away for the summer. "I'm not laughing at the question Harry, I promise. I'm laughing at the way you asked. You should have seen your face. Oh my God, it was hilarious," she said trying to not fall off of the couch. She slowly stopped laughing and then she looked at him and smiled. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to laugh, I promise. But anyways, back to the question. I would really like that Harry, I've been kind of hopping you would ask me, I was starting to think that after you got to know me you didn't want to be my boyfriend, but just a friend."
Harry smiled and moved closer to Carmen. He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. They lay there for a while until they were both tired. Harry helped Carmen to her dormitory since she was having trouble remembering which door it was.
"Thanks Harry," she said shyly. He looked deeply into her eyes and pulled her closer to him. She smiled back up at him and moved her lips close very slowly. Harry pressed his lips on hers and felt a surge of energy between them. Carmen weakened in the knees as she pressed her body against his. Harry couldn't keep one thought in his head long enough to think about one thing that made everything about their kiss special. One thought did stick in his brain though, the thought of Carmen's dead body tied to a chair.
"I need to stop," he said pulling away. That's why the Harry in his dreams didn't want her to die; he was in love with her. He couldn't fall in love with her; it had to be strictly a kissing thing. "I'm sorry, I need to go to bed."
Carmen looked a little disappointed but smiled anyway. "Sure, I understand. Good night," she leaned up to kiss him goodnight, but he had already walked away. Carmen watched him for a while and then she went to bed. Hermione was waiting for her on her bed as she walked in.
"So what happened?" asked Hermione.
"Nothing, go to bed," Carmen said with a smile.
Hermione rolled her eyes and lay on her back. "I just wanted to see if my best friend and my new friend were happy...and together."
Carmen ignored her and closed her eyes. She slowly drifted away into sleep, dreaming of being in a field of flowers with Harry.
Harry hated to admit it, but he purposely forgot to remove all of his emotion. He needed to know what happened, if everything would be okay, if it was safe to date Carmen. Harry closed his eyes and waited for his horror to begin again.
Voldemort stood there laughing at Hermione, as if this was a fun sport for him.
"Really, what loss are we at? She's just a little mudblood. Now, I think we should rid ourselves of all troublemakers," he slowly turned to Neville, who had now stopped biting the rope and now was shouting all of the curses he could think at Voldemort.
"You fucking bastard! Kiss my ass! You pussy bitch, fight us like a fucking man!" Neville shouted.
Harry looked at Neville with wide eyes; he had never really him use such language.
"You heard me you bastard! You dick!" he shouted again looking Voldemort straight in the eyes without a shutter.
"Language son, I hope you are excepted in heaven with that filthy mouth. Goodbye, prince!" Voldemort said, almost impressed with his rage.
Before the spell could be said Harry sat right up, breathing in deeply. Neville was over his bed as well as Ron, Dean, and Seamus.
"Harry, you were cursing pretty strongly," said Neville looking worried.
"Shut up, virgin ears!" said Dean nudging Neville and laughing, but he was the only one laughing.
"Leave Harry alone and go back to bed!" shouted Ron. Harry looked up to hi gratefully and Ron smiled back.
The boys headed back to bed and fell asleep as Harry stared into the air. He finally getting like getting up and he showered and got ready before everyone else had. After he had finished he finished some homework in the common room. After he had finally finished the work, he set the stuff aside and watched the fire that had been lit that morning by none other than Dobby.
After he sat there a while he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned he saw Carmen smiling at him and she hoped over the couch and sat next to him, placing her head on his shoulder. Harry absent-mindedly placed his hand on her leg and she smiled at the gesture. When Harry realized what he was doing he quickly removed his hand and stood up, making Carmen fall to the couch.
"I'm sorry, I just remembered something I needed to do. Excuse me," Harry said after he thought of the thoughtlessness of his action.
Carmen nodded and looked around the common room with a sad face. Was this what she wanted in a boyfriend? She wasn't an expert on the subject either, but she knew that the other person wasn't supposed to be pulling away so soon. She didn't want him to pull away at all, but if he had to she wanted it to be later after they'd had their fun, not while they were having it.
Harry went to find Ron and Hermione, who were just walking out of the dormitories. He had forgotten to tell them about meeting Sirius in the Shrieking Shack.
"You guys I have good news," Harry said in a low whisper.
"You and Carmen are finally together, I knew it!" said Hermione with a big smile.
"No, well, yes, but that's not the news. It's bigger than that. Snuffles isn't dead," Harry said, feeling bad that he had thought of his new girlfriend as a number two on the list, even though Sirius was more important.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other with a sympathetic look. "Harry, Snuffles is dead. He's not coming back," Hermione said touching Harry's arm.
Harry pulled away in anger. "No, he's really alive. Please, just believe me! I have a letter from him and Dumbledore told me last night."
"Of course we believe you Harry," said Ron with an unconvincing look. "This just sounds weird. Do you have the letter?"
Harry pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to Ron, who took it and read it with Hermione. Hermione's eyes widened and Ron's mouth dropped.
"Oh my God!" said Hermione putting a hand over her mouth.
"I told you. You can't say anything to Carmen," Harry said with a smile on his face. He took the letter from Ron and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"How are we going to leave her alone at Hogsmeade?" asked Ron.
Harry hadn't thought of that. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he left his girlfriend alone in a town that she had never been to, and where she didn't know anyone? "Don't worry about it, I'll figure something out. But you can't tell her, or anyone else."
Hermione and Ron nodded and walked with Harry to the common room. Harry looked around for Carmen, but she must have left because she was nowhere to be seen. The trio walked down to the Great Hall and started to eat, Harry hoped to see Carmen, but she wasn't there either. He shouldn't have left her there like that this morning, but he couldn't help it. It really was to keep her safe. But if he wasn't careful, he wouldn't worry about her following him to the Shrieking Shack that weekend.
Carmen sat quietly in an empty classroom looking out a window. She just needed to get away for a while. She needed to think. People had surrounded her ever since she got to England, and she didn't have time to let everything sink in. In the back of her mind she kind of knew that she didn't want everything to sink in. Everything was going so fast, she couldn't put what was real with what was not.
What was real was that her parents were dead, what wasn't real was that it had been her fault. She had to keep telling herself it wasn't her fault. She had no control over what happened. She replayed the incident in her head as the tears formed in her eyes. She was in her room of their house. Her parents had done something to make her angry, something she couldn't even remember now, and she was sulking there. She could hear her mother begging her to come downstairs to talk, but Carmen just ignored her. Her mother finally gave up and left to run an errand, and when she came back she better be willing to talk. Her father went with her mother since he had an errand also. Carmen sat in her room for an hour and decided it was time to give up and talk to her mother, but when she went downstairs to check on them, they hadn't gotten back yet. She didn't think anything about it and went upstairs to play on the Internet and instant message some friends. After she had finished, three hours had passed and she was starting to get worried, her parents weren't back yet. She went to take a shower and when she was out ringing the phone was ringing. She ran to answer it and was shocked to hear the news. Apparently her parents had run into a person that they knew and he killed them. Carmen hadn't heard about the man they met, Gregory Umbridge, but had heard her parents talking about how he was mad at them for what her grandfather had done to his sister. The police didn't know the cause of death, but Carmen did. They had been given the death curse. She wasn't there, she knew that, but she felt she knew how everything had happened. She had been having dreams. Her parent's car broke down on the rode and they got out to repair it, with only the slightest bit of magic. When their efforts didn't work, a man walked out of the woods with his wand out. Mer parent's pulled out their wands and pointed them at him, but it was too late, Gregory had already killed them. Carmen found herself short of breath and crying. This might not have happened, she had to keep telling herself. It was just a dream, a way for the mind to make an excuse for the death.
Carmen also had to let the moving away from home sink in too. She had never moved before that day and it was like a completely different world where she was now. She didn't know what she would do when school was over; she had no place to go. She could stay at the Leaky Cauldron again, but that was so creepy. She could stay with her grandfather, but where does he really live? Carmen sighed and looked at her watch. She had to get to her class then. She had found out that all of her classes were with Harry, and she didn't feel like talking to him then, not that she was sore, she really didn't feel like talking to anyone. She picked up her books and slowly walked to her Charms class.
Harry was glad to see Carmen in Charms, but was disappointed when she ignored all of his notes that he would slide to her. She seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on Professor Flitwick, something that seemed impossible since he was lecturing on the importance of keeping your wand safe. When the class was over she left Harry and Ron and ran back to the girl's dormitory.
"What did you do?" Ron asked as her robe flashed out of the room. He had also noticed Carmen's odd behavior.
"I haven't really doing my best to become boyfriend of the month," Harry said rubbing his the back of his neck and picking his books from the table. "But she shouldn't be giving me the silent treatment, I have a reason. I just can't tell her."
"Is this about Sir...Snuffles?" said Ron as they walked out of the classroom to their next class.
"No, it's about my dream. I don't want her in that room, and if I fall in love with her, I know she'll be there," Harry said. They turned the corner and waited in the line to get in. Harry didn't see Carmen anywhere, sadly, so he asked Ron something that had been bothering him. "Do you think I should end it?"
"I dunno. You guys are great together, but if that's what worries you, I guess you should," Ron said after thinking about it.
Harry nodded. "I think I will."
Just then Harry received a giant shove. He turned to see Carmen and he could tell that she had over heard the worst part of the conversation.
"You jackass! You go and talk to Ron about it instead of talking to me? Why don't you become a man and find out for yourself whether or not you want to leave me? Let me do you a favor, I'll be the one to 'end things'. Goodbye Harry," Carmen ran off to the classroom she had previously occupied. Harry ran after her shouting her name, but she didn't look back. When she reached the room she put an anti-open curse on the door. She went to the window she was at and looked out of it. She tried to ignore the sounds of Harry calling her from outside the door. Her mind flashed back to her mother, who had called her the same way on the night of her death.
She thought about what she would do if the same thing that happened to her parents happened to him. She wouldn't be able to live with herself. She wiped her eyes and walked to the door just in time to see Harry walking away to leave. When he heard the door open he spun back around.
"You have to believe me, I have reasons for wanting this to be over. Like I told you last night, I can't tell you, but I will, as soon as I can. Please, don't be mad at me," Harry said when he saw Carmen.
"I understand," she said as tears formed in her eyes. "It's not like we were in love or anything. It only lasted a few hours so I don't think it's that big of a deal."
Harry's heart hurt hearing these things coming from her. It was a big deal to him.
"We have to get to class," Carmen said, and then took off leaving Harry at the door.
Harry looked at the letter in amazement. He read it many times before he could actually believe its contents. Dear Harry,
I'm not dead. Meet me at your next trip to Hogsmeade at the Shrieking Shack. Bring only Hermione and Ron. Sirius
Harry couldn't believe what he held in his hands, a letter from Sirius telling Harry to meet him. His hands started to shake and he held onto the table tightly to keep people from noticing. Carmen turned to him when she saw his white knuckles on the table.
"Harry, are you alright?" she asked.
Harry just nodded his head and loosened his grip. Harry left the table and walked to the common room to find when the next Hogsmeade trip would be. It turned out to be coming soon, that weekend. Harry went to get his books and went to his first class of the day. He sat silently in his Potions class, not really thinking about what was going on. Thankfully Boyd had them on bookwork, so it was easy to let his mind wander. When the class was over, Harry wandered to his Defence class nodding occasionally to the conversation going on between Ron and Carmen, who got a distinct feeling that Harry wasn't listening so they started to talk about purple elephants.
"Yes, those purple elephants are known to kill," said Carmen looking intently at Harry, who nodded say "Yes, quite right."
Ron and Carmen looked at each other with worried eyes, but when they asked what was wrong, Harry just nodded. Snape seemed to have kept his good (well if you can call it good) mood throughout the first week and was silent to the fact that Harry wasn't paying attention. Ron and Carmen helped Harry out of the class, since he seemed to forget that class was over. They sat in the hall and just stared at Harry for a while. Hermione came in and watched him too. She had noticed how he had reacted to that letter that morning; he seemed to have seen a ghost. What could the letter have said? They finished their classes for that day and Harry had to go to Occlumency with Dumbledore, even though he didn't feel like it. He felt like riding his broom into the sun and getting lost, getting away from all of the stuff that was going on.
"Is something troubling you Harry?" asked Dumbledore when he saw him.
Harry shook his head and got ready for class. Dumbledore emptied thoughts into the Pensieve then got ready for the lesson.
"Dumbledore, wait!" Harry shouted, as Dumbledore got ready to say his spell.
"Is there a problem Harry?" Dumbledore said backing off.
"I got a letter from Sirius today," Harry said.
Dumbledore sighed and walked over to his desk. "Harry, I knew that Sirius was not dead, and I instructed him not to tell you until I told him it was safe, but it is obvious he didn't heed my warning. Harry, only those who deserve to die actually fall to their peril in the Veil, but you have to understand. Sirius didn't deserve to die there, because he is meant to die somewhere else. I thought that by having you not know about his being alive, you might not think your dreams were real. Harry you must meet him where he asked, but be careful. Don't let anyone follow you, and don't write him back. You may leave. I have important buisness to attend to."
Harry walked slowly back to the Gryffindor Tower, sighing. Harry stepped into the comfortable common room and saw that everyone was gone except for Carmen, who was reading a book by the fire. Harry sat next to her and started his homework.
"What book are you reading?" he asked.
"The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. It's about King Arthur and the nights of the round table, mostly Lancelot," she said without looking up.
Harry nodded and then went back to his homework. Carmen finally looked up from her book and stared at Harry. Harry felt like he was being watched and looked up to confirm his suspicion. "Is there something wrong?"
"That's what I wanted to ask you. Harry you've been really out of it today, are you sure you're okay?" she said placing her book to the side.
Harry fought with himself to decide whether he should tell her. He knew that he didn't want to keep secrets from her, but he couldn't put Sirius in trouble. She was Dumbledore's granddaughter, maybe she knew about Sirius being good and that he was Harry's godfather, but he couldn't betray Sirius. "I can't talk about it. I'm sorry; I would love to tell you. I want you to know everything about me and I want to know everything about you, but I can't. I will tell you one day, but I can't right now. Is that okay?"
Carmen just smiled at him. "Of course it's fine, I just wanted to make sure no one was dying or coming back to life. But you are okay, right?"
"Yeah," he said smiling at her as she picked her book back up and started to read again. He thought about what Hermione and Ron had been saying. Why hadn't he asked her out yet? "Um...Carmen?"
Carmen looked up from her book and Harry wished he hadn't said anything. Saying it his head was hard enough, but would he be able to survive saying it out loud? "Uh..."
Carmen laughed and Harry got a little of his nerve back. "Um..." well I said a little, not a heap. "Well...um...erm...uh Carmen, I was wondering. I would...um...I would like to well, I mean you don't have to, but if you would like to, I was wondering if you could, um...well, maybe we could go out?"
Carmen laughed even harder, making Harry's confidence fly away for the summer. "I'm not laughing at the question Harry, I promise. I'm laughing at the way you asked. You should have seen your face. Oh my God, it was hilarious," she said trying to not fall off of the couch. She slowly stopped laughing and then she looked at him and smiled. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to laugh, I promise. But anyways, back to the question. I would really like that Harry, I've been kind of hopping you would ask me, I was starting to think that after you got to know me you didn't want to be my boyfriend, but just a friend."
Harry smiled and moved closer to Carmen. He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. They lay there for a while until they were both tired. Harry helped Carmen to her dormitory since she was having trouble remembering which door it was.
"Thanks Harry," she said shyly. He looked deeply into her eyes and pulled her closer to him. She smiled back up at him and moved her lips close very slowly. Harry pressed his lips on hers and felt a surge of energy between them. Carmen weakened in the knees as she pressed her body against his. Harry couldn't keep one thought in his head long enough to think about one thing that made everything about their kiss special. One thought did stick in his brain though, the thought of Carmen's dead body tied to a chair.
"I need to stop," he said pulling away. That's why the Harry in his dreams didn't want her to die; he was in love with her. He couldn't fall in love with her; it had to be strictly a kissing thing. "I'm sorry, I need to go to bed."
Carmen looked a little disappointed but smiled anyway. "Sure, I understand. Good night," she leaned up to kiss him goodnight, but he had already walked away. Carmen watched him for a while and then she went to bed. Hermione was waiting for her on her bed as she walked in.
"So what happened?" asked Hermione.
"Nothing, go to bed," Carmen said with a smile.
Hermione rolled her eyes and lay on her back. "I just wanted to see if my best friend and my new friend were happy...and together."
Carmen ignored her and closed her eyes. She slowly drifted away into sleep, dreaming of being in a field of flowers with Harry.
Harry hated to admit it, but he purposely forgot to remove all of his emotion. He needed to know what happened, if everything would be okay, if it was safe to date Carmen. Harry closed his eyes and waited for his horror to begin again.
Voldemort stood there laughing at Hermione, as if this was a fun sport for him.
"Really, what loss are we at? She's just a little mudblood. Now, I think we should rid ourselves of all troublemakers," he slowly turned to Neville, who had now stopped biting the rope and now was shouting all of the curses he could think at Voldemort.
"You fucking bastard! Kiss my ass! You pussy bitch, fight us like a fucking man!" Neville shouted.
Harry looked at Neville with wide eyes; he had never really him use such language.
"You heard me you bastard! You dick!" he shouted again looking Voldemort straight in the eyes without a shutter.
"Language son, I hope you are excepted in heaven with that filthy mouth. Goodbye, prince!" Voldemort said, almost impressed with his rage.
Before the spell could be said Harry sat right up, breathing in deeply. Neville was over his bed as well as Ron, Dean, and Seamus.
"Harry, you were cursing pretty strongly," said Neville looking worried.
"Shut up, virgin ears!" said Dean nudging Neville and laughing, but he was the only one laughing.
"Leave Harry alone and go back to bed!" shouted Ron. Harry looked up to hi gratefully and Ron smiled back.
The boys headed back to bed and fell asleep as Harry stared into the air. He finally getting like getting up and he showered and got ready before everyone else had. After he had finished he finished some homework in the common room. After he had finally finished the work, he set the stuff aside and watched the fire that had been lit that morning by none other than Dobby.
After he sat there a while he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned he saw Carmen smiling at him and she hoped over the couch and sat next to him, placing her head on his shoulder. Harry absent-mindedly placed his hand on her leg and she smiled at the gesture. When Harry realized what he was doing he quickly removed his hand and stood up, making Carmen fall to the couch.
"I'm sorry, I just remembered something I needed to do. Excuse me," Harry said after he thought of the thoughtlessness of his action.
Carmen nodded and looked around the common room with a sad face. Was this what she wanted in a boyfriend? She wasn't an expert on the subject either, but she knew that the other person wasn't supposed to be pulling away so soon. She didn't want him to pull away at all, but if he had to she wanted it to be later after they'd had their fun, not while they were having it.
Harry went to find Ron and Hermione, who were just walking out of the dormitories. He had forgotten to tell them about meeting Sirius in the Shrieking Shack.
"You guys I have good news," Harry said in a low whisper.
"You and Carmen are finally together, I knew it!" said Hermione with a big smile.
"No, well, yes, but that's not the news. It's bigger than that. Snuffles isn't dead," Harry said, feeling bad that he had thought of his new girlfriend as a number two on the list, even though Sirius was more important.
Hermione and Ron looked at each other with a sympathetic look. "Harry, Snuffles is dead. He's not coming back," Hermione said touching Harry's arm.
Harry pulled away in anger. "No, he's really alive. Please, just believe me! I have a letter from him and Dumbledore told me last night."
"Of course we believe you Harry," said Ron with an unconvincing look. "This just sounds weird. Do you have the letter?"
Harry pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to Ron, who took it and read it with Hermione. Hermione's eyes widened and Ron's mouth dropped.
"Oh my God!" said Hermione putting a hand over her mouth.
"I told you. You can't say anything to Carmen," Harry said with a smile on his face. He took the letter from Ron and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"How are we going to leave her alone at Hogsmeade?" asked Ron.
Harry hadn't thought of that. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he left his girlfriend alone in a town that she had never been to, and where she didn't know anyone? "Don't worry about it, I'll figure something out. But you can't tell her, or anyone else."
Hermione and Ron nodded and walked with Harry to the common room. Harry looked around for Carmen, but she must have left because she was nowhere to be seen. The trio walked down to the Great Hall and started to eat, Harry hoped to see Carmen, but she wasn't there either. He shouldn't have left her there like that this morning, but he couldn't help it. It really was to keep her safe. But if he wasn't careful, he wouldn't worry about her following him to the Shrieking Shack that weekend.
Carmen sat quietly in an empty classroom looking out a window. She just needed to get away for a while. She needed to think. People had surrounded her ever since she got to England, and she didn't have time to let everything sink in. In the back of her mind she kind of knew that she didn't want everything to sink in. Everything was going so fast, she couldn't put what was real with what was not.
What was real was that her parents were dead, what wasn't real was that it had been her fault. She had to keep telling herself it wasn't her fault. She had no control over what happened. She replayed the incident in her head as the tears formed in her eyes. She was in her room of their house. Her parents had done something to make her angry, something she couldn't even remember now, and she was sulking there. She could hear her mother begging her to come downstairs to talk, but Carmen just ignored her. Her mother finally gave up and left to run an errand, and when she came back she better be willing to talk. Her father went with her mother since he had an errand also. Carmen sat in her room for an hour and decided it was time to give up and talk to her mother, but when she went downstairs to check on them, they hadn't gotten back yet. She didn't think anything about it and went upstairs to play on the Internet and instant message some friends. After she had finished, three hours had passed and she was starting to get worried, her parents weren't back yet. She went to take a shower and when she was out ringing the phone was ringing. She ran to answer it and was shocked to hear the news. Apparently her parents had run into a person that they knew and he killed them. Carmen hadn't heard about the man they met, Gregory Umbridge, but had heard her parents talking about how he was mad at them for what her grandfather had done to his sister. The police didn't know the cause of death, but Carmen did. They had been given the death curse. She wasn't there, she knew that, but she felt she knew how everything had happened. She had been having dreams. Her parent's car broke down on the rode and they got out to repair it, with only the slightest bit of magic. When their efforts didn't work, a man walked out of the woods with his wand out. Mer parent's pulled out their wands and pointed them at him, but it was too late, Gregory had already killed them. Carmen found herself short of breath and crying. This might not have happened, she had to keep telling herself. It was just a dream, a way for the mind to make an excuse for the death.
Carmen also had to let the moving away from home sink in too. She had never moved before that day and it was like a completely different world where she was now. She didn't know what she would do when school was over; she had no place to go. She could stay at the Leaky Cauldron again, but that was so creepy. She could stay with her grandfather, but where does he really live? Carmen sighed and looked at her watch. She had to get to her class then. She had found out that all of her classes were with Harry, and she didn't feel like talking to him then, not that she was sore, she really didn't feel like talking to anyone. She picked up her books and slowly walked to her Charms class.
Harry was glad to see Carmen in Charms, but was disappointed when she ignored all of his notes that he would slide to her. She seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on Professor Flitwick, something that seemed impossible since he was lecturing on the importance of keeping your wand safe. When the class was over she left Harry and Ron and ran back to the girl's dormitory.
"What did you do?" Ron asked as her robe flashed out of the room. He had also noticed Carmen's odd behavior.
"I haven't really doing my best to become boyfriend of the month," Harry said rubbing his the back of his neck and picking his books from the table. "But she shouldn't be giving me the silent treatment, I have a reason. I just can't tell her."
"Is this about Sir...Snuffles?" said Ron as they walked out of the classroom to their next class.
"No, it's about my dream. I don't want her in that room, and if I fall in love with her, I know she'll be there," Harry said. They turned the corner and waited in the line to get in. Harry didn't see Carmen anywhere, sadly, so he asked Ron something that had been bothering him. "Do you think I should end it?"
"I dunno. You guys are great together, but if that's what worries you, I guess you should," Ron said after thinking about it.
Harry nodded. "I think I will."
Just then Harry received a giant shove. He turned to see Carmen and he could tell that she had over heard the worst part of the conversation.
"You jackass! You go and talk to Ron about it instead of talking to me? Why don't you become a man and find out for yourself whether or not you want to leave me? Let me do you a favor, I'll be the one to 'end things'. Goodbye Harry," Carmen ran off to the classroom she had previously occupied. Harry ran after her shouting her name, but she didn't look back. When she reached the room she put an anti-open curse on the door. She went to the window she was at and looked out of it. She tried to ignore the sounds of Harry calling her from outside the door. Her mind flashed back to her mother, who had called her the same way on the night of her death.
She thought about what she would do if the same thing that happened to her parents happened to him. She wouldn't be able to live with herself. She wiped her eyes and walked to the door just in time to see Harry walking away to leave. When he heard the door open he spun back around.
"You have to believe me, I have reasons for wanting this to be over. Like I told you last night, I can't tell you, but I will, as soon as I can. Please, don't be mad at me," Harry said when he saw Carmen.
"I understand," she said as tears formed in her eyes. "It's not like we were in love or anything. It only lasted a few hours so I don't think it's that big of a deal."
Harry's heart hurt hearing these things coming from her. It was a big deal to him.
"We have to get to class," Carmen said, and then took off leaving Harry at the door.