Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, places, or items.

Comments: I couldn't resist - a mushy love chapter. -dreamy sigh- Anyway, for those of you who think these types of chapters are useless, live with it. 'Cause I like 'em.

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Chapter 27 – Predictable

Harry awoke with the feeling that he had forgotten something. Ron snored loudly from beside him, not helping with his concentration. The glanced in the corner and saw his Hogwarts robes peeking out of his suitcase. Today's the last day before we go back to school, he remembered. He got up and got dressed quietly as Ron practically shattered the room with his snores. Harry stepped out of the room to discover that it didn't seem as if a single soul was awake. He tiptoed to the Sirius' room, in which Silver had once again taken residence in. He gave the closet a wary glance as he walked over to her, half expecting the trapdoor to burst to life at any moment.

He looked down at her and smiled. Charisma slept at the foot of her bed, which was, by all means, an improvement since it meant that the animal didn't go bizerk when it caught him spying on her in her sleep, something he had been doing often. The animal hadn't grown much, but was supposedly going to undergo a 'growth spurt' in a month or so. He turned his attention back to Silver. A hint of a smile played at her lips, and Harry wondered if she was dreaming. He didn't know how long he stared at her, but he was startled when her eyes flickered open suddenly. Usually, before she awoke, she would stir, or give some sign that she was going to awaken, but today she hadn't. For a moment he just looked down into her eyes, surprised.

"Morning, Harry," she said quietly.

"Morning, beautiful," he replied.

She smiled at him.

"Romantic," she informed him.

"I thought so," Harry answered, "and I'm wondering why I haven't gotten a 'thanks-for-being-romantic' kiss yet."

She smiled. "Because you're too far away," she answered.

He obligingly bent down to her and kissed her. He didn't want to have to pull away, but he did, ever so slightly, and looked down at her. She's so beautiful, he thought, and sweet. Why did she choose me? He had often wondered this, but whenever he asked her she got a bit annoyed, so he kept his thoughts to himself. She gave him one of her sly smiles and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back down into another kiss. This time, he had no intention of pulling away for a while. He could sense her surprise as he continued to kiss her. He felt her tense up.

"Harry-"she began, pushing her hands against his chest.

Disappointed, he pulled away slightly. Her eyes were light and alive, and her face was flushed.

"Yes?" he replied.

She seemed to consider something as she looked up at him.

"Um, I have to shower and stuff," she said meekly.

"Right," he said, sitting up and allowing her to do the same.

Charisma awoke and gave a yawn, and then looked from Harry to Silver inquiringly. Silver avoided his gaze as she gathered her clothes and headed for the bathroom, Charisma at her heels. Harry sighed and lay down on her unmade bed, wondering what he had done wrong. He decided to go and see if anybody else was awake yet, and headed down to the living room.

When he walked in, the only greeting he got was the one from their Christmas tree, which neither he nor Lupin could see any reason to discard. It had seemingly become a permanent resident of Grimmauld Place.

"Morning, tree," he greeted it.

It quivered in response.

"Talking to trees, Potter?" came a sneering voice from behind him.

He jumped nearly ten feet into the air with surprise and whirled around with his wand drawn out, only to find that it was Snape, smirking at him annoyingly.

"Going to hex me?" he asked.

Harry shoved his wand back into his pocket, blushing.

"Why didn't you say anything when I walked in?" he muttered.

"Didn't feel like it," Snape replied.

Harry felt a familiar sense of dislike bubbling up inside of him.

"Whatever," he mumbled.

The tree had tilted questioningly at him.

"He's a git," he said in a low voice, so that only the tree could hear him.

"Heard that, Potter," Snape sneered.

"Yeah, so?" Harry replied, feeling more than a bit annoyed at Snape.

"Just wanted you to know," Snape replied with infuriating coolness.

Harry simply stared at him, unable to find words to express what he felt for Snape at that particular moment.

"Just shut up, okay?" he asked, his voice rising a level.

"Don't wake the others because you're having a bad day, Potter," Snape answered.

"I'm not having a bad day, I haven't even had a day," Harry replied.

But so far my girlfriend has made a lame excuse not to snog me and my least favorite teacher has caught me talking to a tree, he thought miserably.

"Well if you're going to be so snappy, you may as well go back to bed," Snape answered sensibly.

Harry realized with irritation that Snape was right. In fact, by all standards, Snape was in a relatively good mood this morning. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sank into an armchair.

"How can I be having a bad day already?" Harry groaned.

"Well, you do seem to manage the impossible very often," Snape replied, "But I, for one, am upholding my end of the bargain and being perfectly decent."

It took Harry a moment to figure out that Snape must know that Silver had made him promise to be nice to Snape. She must have done the same with Snape, he realized. He stared at Snape in disbelief. Silver must be very important to him if he was holding out on an opportunity to attack him.

"How do you know about that?" he growled.

Snape merely smirked. Harry rolled his eyes pointedly and looked away. He heard footsteps on the staircase and soon Hermione appeared in the doorway.

"Good morning!" she greeted him.

Her eyes landed on Snape, and she began to look a bit frightened.

"Good morning, Professor Snape," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Snape smirked. "Morning, Granger," he replied.

Hermione looked surprised that he had answered.

"How's your day, Harry?" she asked pleasantly.

"What's it to you?" Harry exploded, "Does everybody know that I'm having a bad day? Do I have 'idiot' plastered on my forehead or something?"

Hermione looked utterly shocked, and Snape coughed suspiciously. Ron and Ginny soon joined them, and got similar responses from Harry when they greeted him in a particularly good mood. Harry refused to join in a conversation with them, and sat with his arms folded staring in the other direction. Soon Silver walked in, followed closely by Charisma.

"Morning, everyone," she said, smiling especially sweetly at Snape.

Everyone said good morning back except for Harry. She surveyed him with a superior air, and he glared at her.

"Pouting on the couch, are you?" she asked.

"I'm not pouting," he said, intensifying his glare.

"Really now? You look worse than a toddler when their mom refuses to give them a toy they want," she answered.

"I'm not a toddler," he growled.

"Could've fooled me," was her smooth comeback.

He caught sight of Snape, who was gloating in the fact that Silver was mad at Harry. Snape's eyes met his, and Harry gave him a particularly nasty look. Snape smirked in response as Silver walked over and gave him a warm hug. Then Silver turned to him and grabbed him by the hand.

"Come here," she said, dragging him up off the couch.

"I don't want to go anywhere," he grumbled, but she fixed him with a look that clearly stated that he had better, and he allowed her to lead him out of the room.

"Stay," she told Charisma at the foot of the stairs. Immediately the hippogriff planted it's bottom down on the spot.

Silver dragged Harry into Sirius' bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"What are you pouting for?" she demanded.

"I'm not pouting!" he said.

"You're mad because I wouldn't snog you," she accused.

"I am not," he lied.

"Really now?" she asked, walking up to him.

He half expected a slap, so when she pushed him onto the bed, put her arms around him and kissed him, it took him quite by surprise. She drew away, her eyes sparkling.

"Well, are you going to kiss me back?" she demanded.

He quickly put his arms around her and drew her in for a kiss. To further his shock, however, she refused to pull away and continued to kiss him. Not only that, but she kissed him as if her life depended on it. He began to get worried, and managed with difficulty to pull away.

"What're you –"he began, but she silenced him with a kiss so passionate that he completely forgot any worries he may have had.

She pushed him back into a laying-down position, and after a few moments he flipped them over, pausing for breath as he did so. She giggled and pulled him back down to her. Apparently she didn't need oxygen. Harry kissed her back with just as much enthusiasm, hoping that she didn't feel the need to stop anytime soon. Suddenly she pushed him away, although she only managed in getting him to raise his head a few inches. She looked up at him with a mixture of wonder and longing, and he at her. He suddenly realized that the first four buttons of his shirt had somehow become undone. He lowered his lips back down to hers and she raised no protest. He could feel her working on the fifth button of his shirt, and it worried him a bit. He pulled away, although it was one of the hardest things he had ever done.

"Um, Silver, I know you're, um, excited, but my shirt..." he began uncertainly.

"Sorry," she breathed, pulling him back down to her immediately.

Harry was shocked. He had expected a shock for even hinting that she was thinking of him in what she would have normally referred to as 'that way'. It didn't take long for her hands to find new ways of occupying themselves in his hair. One of his hands was hopelessly lost in her own hair, and the other was around her waist as he attempted not to bear down on her with his weight.

Suddenly the door banged open. Harry got one last kiss in as Silver tried to push him away.

"It's break..." George stopped as his eyes fell over them.

"...fast...time..." Fred finished weakly from beside him.

"So, um, come on downstairs," George continued, trying to look as if he came across couples passionately kissing on beds every day.

He and Fred quickly exited, shutting the door behind them. Silver was still pushing uselessly on his chest, and he quickly sat up. He had no idea where his glasses were. He fumbled with the buttons on his shirt as Silver reached for a brush and began combing it through her hair.

"We shouldn't have done that," she said, still breathless.

Great, Harry thought, Thanks to useless things like eating, that won't ever happen again.

Silver batted his hands away from his shirt and finished buttoning it for him. She handed him his glasses and he slipped them on. Her face was still flushed, and her eyes bright, as she smoothed out his shirt. She looked up into his eyes and a mischievous smile lit her face.

"It was fun, though, wasn't it?" she asked.

He grinned in response.

"Your hair is too messy," she announced.

Harry began to laugh. His hair was hopelessly messy from the start, he could only imagine what it looked like after Silver had run her hands through it so many times.

"Well, you look fine," he answered as she attempted to run her brush through his hair.

She gave him a smug look in response.

"Of course, if I had been unbuttoning your shirt, it might be a different story," he piped up.

"If you had been unbuttoning my shirt you would have a slap across the face," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

He grinned impishly. "Yeah, well..." he didn't finish, but followed her out of the room, where she took a sharp left in the direction opposite of the staircase.

"Where are you going?" he asked, following her.

"Just looking," she answered as she surveyed herself in the bathroom mirror.

"What, you don't believe me?" he asked, grinning.

"Not at all," she answered, and being contented with her looks, she dragged him with her to the staircase, where she promptly let go of his hand to catch Charisma, who came bounding up to greet them.

They arrived in the kitchen last, and nobody said anything, although Fred and George gave them repeated odd looks, and several nasty ones in Harry's direction. Hermione seemed to notice this, and gave Harry pointedly questioning looks. Harry just shrugged and returned to his meal. After breakfast, Fred and George walked up to Harry, grabbed each of his arms, and began to lead him firmly up the stairs. Silver, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny followed. Harry ended up in Fred and George's room along with the others.

"Why are you two looking at Harry like that?" Hermione demanded as Fred and George gave him murderous glares.

"The little sneak was snogging her!" Fred replied, sounding outraged as he pointed to Silver.

"Yeah, she's his girlfriend, so what?" Ron replied.

"He was really snogging her," George replied, and Harry couldn't help but smirk.

"You guys," Silver said impatiently.

"No!" Fred exclaimed, "You're like our sister, and he...he was...it was disgusting!"

Silver giggled.

"Don't laugh, it was!" George chimed in, "He hardly even stopped when we came in the room!"

Silver laughed again. "Yes he did," she defended, "And it wasn't disgusting, actually, I rather liked it."

Fred and George looked horrified.

"Yeah, it was her idea in the first place," Harry added.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were laughing helplessly. Silver flushed slightly at Harry's revelation, but didn't contradict him.

"Sick," Fred and George said in unison, looking at Silver as if she had just commited some sort of crime.

Harry joined in on the other's laughter, but stopped when Silver glared at him evilly.

"Oh, so you think it's funny, do you?" she asked him.

"N...no," he replied.

"Well, we'll just see if that ever happens again," she said, turning and walking from the room.

Hermione and Ginny followed her, leaving the boys alone.

"You just snogged the hottest girl at Hogwarts," Ron said, looking at Harry in awe.

"Yeah, but she's mad at me now," Harry said, looking at the door worriedly.

"She'll get over it," Ron said, "So how was it?"

"What, do you want a blow-by-blow?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"No, but I'd like to know how your shirt got unbuttoned," George said suddenly.

"What do you think, I did it myself?" Harry replied, a bit smugly.

"Ho ho!" Ron exclaimed, and he was echoed by Fred and George.

Then Ron said confidentially, "You know mate, one of these days you might be able to take it all the way."

It took a moment for Harry to process what he had just said. "WHAT?" he exploded, jumping up from the bed.

Fred and George sniggered.

"Sorry, mate," Ron said immediately, "I just thought..."

"What...you thought that's the reason why I'm dating her?" Harry demanded.

"Well...no, but it is one of the reasons...isn't it?"

"NO!" Harry bellowed, "AS IF I WOULD WANT TO...TO...USE HER!"

"Okay, okay, quiet down, mate," Ron said, "I just thought that maybe you would...well, get the most of it..."

"Is that why you're dating Hermione?" Harry challenged.

It was Ron's turn to be shocked. "What...no...never...how...no!" he sputtered.

Harry relaxed. "Good, then," he said.

There was a knock at the door.

"In!" Fred called.

Silver, Hermione, and Ginny came back in, having successfully recovered themselves. Fred and George began to whisper something, and they turned to Harry with an evil look.

"Harry, we're going to play a game," George announced.

"We're going to ask you questions, and you have to answer them within one second or else we hex you – and we'll hex you good," Fred explained.

"Uh..." Harry said.

"There's no getting out of it," George interrupted, "So here goes."

"Full name?"
"Harry James Potter."
"Hair color?"
"Black."
"Eye color?"
"Green."
"Height?"
"Erm, 6'3", I think."
"Age?"
"Sixteen."
"In love with?"
"Silver."

Fred and George began to snigger uncontrollably as Harry realized the implications of what he had just said. He looked at Silver, who was looking at Fred and George with shock. Then she turned to look at him.

"You love me?" she whispered.

He felt his face heat up. "Um, yeah," he answered uncomfortably.

Please let her say it, he thought, Please let her say it.

She clapped a hand over her mouth and fled from the room. He felt as if he had been slapped across the face. Fred and George's laughter faded. Harry turned on them, feeling anger bubbling up inside him.

"WHAT did you do that for?" he demanded.

"We...we thought she would say it back..." Fred said, looking at the door as if hoping Silver would come back through it.

"Well, she didn't," Harry said icily.

"But she does, mate, really she does," Ron said in an attempt to comfort him.

"Well why did she run away looking like I just disgusted her then?" Harry asked, "I'll tell you why, it's because she doesn't love me!"

With that he jumped up and stormed into his and Ron's room, slamming the door behind him. His anger quickly faded to numb disbelief. She doesn't love me, he thought, Why did I say that? What was I thinking? Why did that answer come to me so easily? He sat on his bed, and the answer came to him. He had loved her for a long time – but he hadn't known it. How long have I loved her? He wondered. He remembered the first night he came, and she had looked into his eyes, and he had felt that connection, the connection that was so strong, between the two of them. He had loved her then.

He sank backwards onto his bed, looking at the ceiling hopelessly. Nobody bothered him for what must have been hours. He wallowed in his grief. How could she not love him back? She had looked at him as if he had absolutely revolted her when he had said that. She had run away. She hadn't even wanted to look at him. Thoughts swirled around in his head too fast for him to truly think of them. Suddenly the door opened, and Ron walked in.

"Um, Harry, it's time for lunch," he said.

Harry followed him down the stairs to the kitchen. Everyone was already there. Silver didn't even look at him, in fact, she looked pointedly in the other direction, even though she was sitting across from him. He sat down and stared at his food. It didn't look remotely appetizing. Nobody spoke a word. Harry figured that they must somehow know about the predicament. Suddenly Silver threw down her fork. It hit her plate with a clatter. Everybody jumped except for Harry, who looked up, surprised.

She burst into tears and fled to Sirius' bedroom.

"Predictable," Harry said, as if he had been expecting it all along.

He got up and walked to his room, and then collapsed on his bed. He hadn't taken a single bite.