Chapter 16: Clues to Nowhere
Harry laid on his back that night, his breathing heavy, his glasses resting on the table
beside him.
Harry watched the shadows creep around him. Big ones, small ones, all different sizes.
But Harry wasn't thinking of shadows. He was thinking of her.
Harry restlessly pulled himself up. He knew he wasn't going to sleep after, after
well........earlier.
In his mind, his lips could still touch her small, plump ones. He could still smell her
breath and taste the sugary warmth in her. Yet he was foolish enough to not ask her what
her name was or demand that she took off that mask. But he had something that just
might help him.
Harry reached through his night curtains and grabbed the cold, circular object.
Harry stared at the ring, hoping that something could give away the girl's identity.
He studied it. It was made of silver, old with crumbs of rust clinging to it. The craft was
extraordinary however. Little circles swarmed around the side, beginning with the letter
C and ending with the letter L.
C L. Could they be initials? Harry's first thought was Cho Chang, but he immediately
got rid of the idea as fast as it had come to him. There was no way she could have been
Cho. He had seen Cho that very night!
Ok, so it wasn't Cho. Who was it? Listening to Neville snore wasn't going to help.
After several minutes of wondering, Harry finally felt sleep rush through his body at last.
Placing the ring next to his glasses, Harry snuggled into his pillow. He could find out
who it had been tomorrow.
===============================
A week passed, and term soon began once more. Hermione and Ron had tried
desperately to help Harry, but to their disappointment, they were getting nowhere.
"It's a cold case." Ron told Harry during lunch one afternoon. "Give it up. You are
never going to find her."
Harry refused to believe him. He had to find the girl! He just had to! But something
else inside him said that Ron was indeed right.
Ron soon gave up on the hunt, as he was too busy with his new love, Lavender. Harry
and Hermione , to their amusement, had found the pair making out several times in
unlikely places.
Harry noticed something else as well. Hermione had somewhat changed after the
Majestic Christmas Ball. She no longer seemed like the strict Hermione Granger that he knew
before. Everywhere she went, she seemed to smile. Especially when Draco Malfoy was in the
picture.
"Hermione and Draco," Harry thought nastily during a Transfiguration class. "Argh,
what a awful scene."
As every day ended and a new one began, Harry grew more and more angry. What if
Ron was right?
==========================
If Cho knew what Harry was feeling, she would certainly tie him and herself for first
place for most depressed.
The day after the ball, Cho had woken up to an owl carrying a basket of goodies and
treats from her, "one true love" aka. Crabbe. Cho practically had to hide wherever she went, for
she knew that Crabbe would be following his heart's content close behind.
Cho spent hours in the library each day, trying urgently to figure out a anti-potion, her
friends struggling to help.
"I give up!" Cho moaned as she threw down: Potions Complete for Magical Usage.
"There is no way I can get Crabbe out of this mess."
Poppy turned to her friend.
"Of course there is." She said soothingly. "We just have to find it."
"But who would know the potion to get rid of it!" Cho cried.
The four friends looked at each other.
"Professor Snape." They chanted together.
================================
Harry couldn't concentrate. Not even the excitement for the Quidditch game the next day
could cheer him up.
Everyone noticed and tried their best to force him into good spirits.
Neville pretended (or was he really? Harry couldn't tell) to act stupid.
Ginny gave Harry several things from her twin brother's jokeshop.
Ron tried to lose to Harry in a game of chess.
Even Hermione pitched in by helping him with his homework.
"See Harry?" she said pointing to words in a book, "The fairies not only had to leave
their settlements, but they had to give up their precious treasures to the aggravations of the
malicious wizards of New Zealand."
Harry nodded glumly as he wrote down what Hermione said.
After several attempts of cheering up, Harry irrevocably had it. He excused himself to
visit the restroom, and when he returned, he could hear Hermione and Ron in another
corner of the Common Room muttering away.
"Don't be silly Ron. He is in love with her. I can tell."
"I know!!! You said that like ten times Hermione! But listen, maybe it was something
different. You know like a mirage."
"A mirage! What have you got rolling around in that skull of yours Weasley? She was
definitely not a mirage."
"Ok, ok I give up. So what if Harry is in love with a girl that we don't know even
exists?!"
"Well you won't have to worry about that!" Harry yelled angrily, making the two jump.
"Cause I am not in love!!"
Harry glared at his friends. He didn't waste any time spinning around and storming up
the stairs to his dormitory.
"Poor Harry." Hermione thought sadly. "He will be brokenhearted when he finds out
who the girl is."
=================================
Ok, ok. So it isn't the best chapter in the world, but I had to write something. Hope you
enjoyed it!!