None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me
A/N: I know this story is marked as PG-13, it may not appear to be any "unsuitable" now, but it will in later chapters (just for awhile)...well, that is if I go according to plan. Anyway, this chapter doesn't have much...it's just, well...normal! Enjoy! Hang in there! There'll be more to come!
"So! How was prefect duty last night?" Ron asked casually while the three of them stepped out of the portrait hole, heading down to breakfast in the Great Hall.
"Oh, it was okay." said Hermione without hesitation. Something inside her made her feel that what happened last night was a secret between her and Harry.
"Yeah...it wasn't all the great, without you and all that, mate." replied Harry. Apparently, he thought the same way as Hermione.
"Hah! Knew you were gonna say that. But it doesn't matter anyway, I spent the whole night finishing off Snape's essay, Trelawney's predictions, practicing my lousy Charms and Transfiguration...phooh! You can say it was really productive, and I actually managed to vanish something...on my first attempt!...though I don't think you'd wanna know what it is" said Ron, beaming with pride...and guilt, wondering what Dean would say when he finds his favorite muggle sport (was it the Westerham soccer team?) poster missing.
Harry looked at Ron, taken aback, while Hermione was staring at him in astonishment
"Well, I must say, Ron. What got into you?" asked Hermione, still in shock.
"You people...we have our NEWTs this year, you must be waiting to die if you haven't started working your butts out!" Ron said in a sort of reprimanding tone.
"Ron's getting good at organizing homework, Hermione's getting low grades, I'm falling for one of my best friends...This is crazy, absolutely crazy." muttered Harry, as they stepped into the already packed Great Hall.
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"And today, we will be looking at Remotots. Who can tell me what they're for?" Professor Sprout's voice rang through the greenhouse, looking for a volunteer.
Without surprise, Hermione's hand shot up in the air, as she has been doing so for 7 years now. But this time, Hermione wasn't the only one. Two seats down, Ron looked up, and raised his hand up shyly, his face glowing a light shade of orange as eyes turned to him. Professor Sprout raised one of her eyebrows in surprise.
"Mr. Weasley, you have the answer?"
"Well, um, yuh...Um...Remotots, are used for, um...well, they are normally used to revive someone's memory. Though there is not a very high chance it will work, it's the only other choice..." answered Ron uncertainly.
Professor Sprout was about to speak again when—
"Oh yuh! And if an over-dosage is used, well, the person with the memory loss will...um..." continued Ron, and stopping in mid-way again.
"...will never be able to recover his or her memory ever again. So it is a very important that a certified doctor, instead of any other person, diagnoses the dosage." Hermione finished off the sentence, her impatience getting the better of her.
"Very good, very good...I see it's not just Ms. Granger earning all the house points for Gryffindor now ey? Okay, take 5 points each." Professor Sprout said in satisfaction. Never in her life has she ever seen Ronald Weasley contribute to any of her classes verbally. What on earth is coming to this boy?
The lesson went on cheerily, as Professor Sprout brought out the Remotots, explaining how each of the different colored branches helps with reviving the memory of different parts of the brain. They were then told to separate into pairs, and every pair was given a Remotot plant to chop off the different branches to be color-coded, as these Remotots were mature enough to be used. Ron pitied Neville when he saw him looking around desperately for a partner when he heard the words "pairs", that he went off with him, leaving Harry and Hermione together.
"Eeeugh..." groaned Harry as he mustered all the strength he had, to chop just one branch off.
"Whoa, careful there." gasped Hermione as she held on to the plant, holding it in place as she watched Harry cut off the branch, missing his finger by a few mere centimeters.
"No problem, I got it...I got it..." said Harry dismissively.
After a few minutes of hard work (and silence between him and Hermione), Harry paused to take a rest.
"Hey, Hermione? Um...can I ask you a question, I um...I have a problem." Harry staggered out.
"Go ahead, spit it out!"
"Well, you see..." Harry picked up the axe again, and worked on another branch."There's this girl...I like, and...I well...I really like her, but I don't exactly know if she likes me. I'm scared that if I tell her, she either rejects me, or she agrees to going out with me, but the feelings die down after awhile...just like what happened with Lavender. And well...like I told you before, I'm afraid to commit you know...so I was wondering if you can help me?" Harry finished off.
Hermione looked thoughtful.
"Hermione?" Harry woke her up from her trance. "Did you hear what I just said?"
"Oh! What? Oh, yuh! Okay...look. If you really like her, it means you know her quite well right?" Harry nodded. Hermione continued "So, it's kinda like divination now, except it's more of psychology. Imagine what her reaction will be like if you told her, and...judging by her behavior towards you in school, do you think she feels the same way to you too?"
Now, it was Harry's turn to be in a trance. But before Hermione could snap him out of it, he replied.
"I think she would be too shocked to react if I told her how I felt for her...and I guess...well, it would take me some time to win her over.." Harry replied thoughtfully, as he looked up at Hermione. "Don't tell anyone about this, please."
Hermione gave him a look, feeling both confused, and delighted. She had this strange feeling it was her, the way he asked her the question, looked into her eyes. But another part of her wondered if it IS really her...what if, it wasn't her after all?