Problems in Paradise

Chapter # 2

Hermione's eyes snapped open to reveal that the sun was now bearing a light glow from behind the hill. She tilted her head up, and saw that Harry was not only awake, but his bright eyes were staring out the window. He extinguished his gaze, and looked down to where his emerald eyes met with Hermione's chestnut ones.

"Have you gotten any sleep?" Hermione whispered.

Harry shook his head, "No, too much on my mind."

Hermione was silent for a few seconds, "Hey Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for getting so mad at you yesterday...I was just frustrated.

"You had every right to be mad... I'm the one who's sorry," Harry said. It was silent.

"I also wanted to thank you," Hermione said sitting up a little bit, to where Harry was now at eye level.

"For what?" Harry asked quietly.

"For saving me. For staying by me tonight. For not beating the shit out of Ron." Hermione smiled. Harry laughed.

"Don't thank me for that...I'm not so sure that I'm done with Ron." Hermione laughed.

"But seriously Harry...don't hurt him too terribly bad. I mean, he was on drugs! He didn't know what he was doing!" Hermione said furring her eyebrows.

"Even when someone's on drugs... how could they do something so terrible!" Harry's nostrils flared.

"I don't know, Harry...I've never been on drugs," Hermione sighed.

"Well if we don't stop it now, it's just going to get worse," Harry said; Hermione nodded in agreement.

"We can't let this happen again...so if he even comes in the same room as you, get out...or scream or something! Anything to get away from him! Promise me!" Harry gulped.

"I promise." Hermione replied in a barley audible whisper.

Harry craned his neck and kissed her temple.

"Hermione blushed, "I'm going to go get ready." She got up and walked away, smiling.

Harry followed right behind her, and only left her side when his room became visible. He stepped in and closed the door. After getting himself dressed, and (attempting) to tame his hair, he went back downstairs to wait for Hermione.

Meanwhile Hermione stood in front of her mirror with a frown. Brand new flare jeans hugged her hips, but she was still deciding which shirt would look best. After much thought and contemplation she chose a black shirt that had light pink lining. On the right side of the shirt there was a thin spaghetti strap, verses the left which was simply strapless. She put a clip in her hair, distributed gloss upon her lips and turned back to her mirror.

She sighed and mumbled, "Well I suppose this is just as good as it can get..." With that she stumbled down the stairs into the living room, where Harry sat, looking out the window once again.

"Hey Harry!" Hermione smiled.

Harry turned toward Hermione and his mouth fell open. He quickly recovered and said, "Oh, hey Hermione." Hermione smiled coyly, and sat down beside him.

"So...err, have you seen Ron this morning?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head; "No...I'm pretty sure that he's just staying in his room as much as he can..."

Hermione nodded, "Probably so," she sighed. "Harry...he might be on crack, but he's still my friend. I still care about him...and I don't think he's eaten in a while. I'm worried, can I just take a plate of food up to him?" Hermione rested her hand on Harry's forearm, as he contemplated. "Please, Harry."

"You can take a plate of food up to him, but your not going alone." Harry said firmly. Hermione sighed, "All right...I'm going to go fix him a sandwich."

"I'll help." Harry followed her into the kitchen.

Harry poured Ron a glass of orange juice, while Hermione put together a sandwich, and threw some chips on the plate.

They slowly walked up the stairs, careful not to spill anything, and knocked on his door.

"Go away!" Came Ron's angry voice.

"Umm...Ron, you must be hungry...we brought you some food." Hermione said timidly.

"I'm not hungry!" He yelled back.

"Ron, I know that you are... please just let us in," Hermione pleaded.

Ron's stomach rumbled, and he decided that getting his way wasn't as important.

I'll just take the food and then force them out! He thought.

Reluctantly he opened the door, and let them in.

Hermione set the plate down, "Oh Ron, you look horrible! You're all pale and your eyes are bloodshot! You do realize that what you're doing is hurting you don't you. It's not healthy! Plus we're going into seventh year...your going to start a job soon! This could ruin your life!"

Ron said nothing, but grabbed for his sandwich and started to eat. Harry stood beside Hermione clutching her hand.

"Hermione's right, Ron. If you don't stop this soon your going to end up in prison...it's illegal you know!" Harry said cautiously.

"Or worse, dead!" Hermione said gently. Ron shrugged.

Tears formed in Hermione's eyes; "It's not a joke Ron! This is serious! You're one of my best friends! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"You don't care about me! You care about Harry! That's all you care about! Harry! Harry! Harry!" Ron said in disgust.

Hermione's mouth hung open at the truth of his words. Before Ron had ever started drugs, she had been pretty 'Harry involved'. Silent tears streamed out of her eyes, as she stood there speechless.

When she got up the courage, she spoke. "Ron...I care about you and Harry the exact same," She cautiously sat down on his bed beside him. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have convinced Harry to let me come bring you lunch. I wouldn't be talking to you right now!"

Ron tore his gaze from Hermione and was now glaring at Harry. "How come you didn't want Hermione to come up and see me?"

"Obvious reasons. Number one, your actions toward her weren't exactly admirable yesterday. Two, your on drugs and you could be violent." Harry said softly, still careful to keep his eyes on Ron, as he may try to pull something like yesterday.

Ron thought for a moment and then said, "Yesterday was different...I didn't know what I was doing...I haven't smoked anything today."

"Well it was a simple precaution, as I didn't know if you'd been doing any drugs. I also care for Hermione, and I didn't want her to get hurt again." Harry said quietly.

Ron looked down at his feet, and they remained there until Hermione finally said, "Ron, are you going to try to quit?"

Ron shrugged, "I guess."

"Well if you're willing to try, then Hermione and I'll help you." Hermione nodded.

"The first thing we have to do is get rid of any drugs that you still have!" She said getting up. Ron got up as well and started searching around his room, pulling tiny bags from the most peculiar places. Finally when he was done he set them all on his bed.

"Are you sure that's all of them?" Hermione asked raising her brow. "Are you hiding anymore?"

"No...that's all of them!" Harry looked skeptical and then said, "Accio Cocaine!"

I few more bags flew from different places in the room, into Harry's hand.

"Oh! I err...forgot about those!" Ron said blushing.

Harry sighed and grabbed the rest of the bags off the bed. Just as they were about to leave Ron let out a loud, "Wait!" They both turned around.

"You can't expect me to have all this cocaine in my system one day and be completely clean the next day!" Ron pleaded. Hermione raised her brow.

"We'll keep it in a secure place and then if you show signs of improvement we'll give you a little, which you are to smoke in front of us, so that you don't attempt a duplicating charm." She finished, and turned to Harry.

"Does that sound alright with you?"

"Yeah," he thought a second, "But, Ron, you do understand that we'll be giving you less and less each day, to where after a while you'll be off it completely." Ron nodded.

"And another thing! It's not going to help sitting up in this depressing old room all day. You need to start coming down the stairs some. There are plenty of fun things you can do down there. And while you are in your room you need something pretty to look at. We'll be putting some pictures of your family and friends and stuff up on these plain old walls!" Hermione stated.

"Wow Hermione...have you tried to get someone off crack before?" Harry smiled.

Hermione sighed, "I'm just an expert because I spent so much damn time helping you out of your depression!" Hermione grinned widely; Harry blushed.

"If you get hungry again Ron, then you can come down and help yourself in the kitchen!" With that they turned and left.

"So where are we going to hide this?" Harry asked as soon as they got down the stairs.

"I'll be right back!" Hermione ran back up the stairs, pulled a box from her shelf and ran back down.

"This is a safe. You have to know the combination to get into it. Plus we can put extra charms and things on it." Harry nodded.

"Okay..."

She twirled the lock to the right combination and opened the box. Harry set the bags inside and closed it.

"Where should we put it?" Hermione asked.

They thought for a few minutes, "Buckbeaks room?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "I'll go put it there," He turned and left for the stairs.

Once he returned, they both sat down on the couch.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a long week," Hermione said softly.