A/N: Sorry there hasn't been an update for two weeks, but between being sick two weeks ago and having a lot of work I just haven't had time to post a new chapter. Thanks much for the reviews though! Cheers! So here you go, right in the middle of the week!
Hermione frowned and bit her lip as she watched Ron's retreating back. She had, of course, been hoping that she would be Head Girl, but she had never expected Harry to be bestowed with the same honor, especially since he was never made prefect. Lately, however, she had been particularly worried about Ron. She had noticed his sidelong glances at her and Harry, and this Head Boy issue wasn't going to make things any easier.
"Well I've gone and done it again," Harry said, frowning.
"Harry, it's not your fault," Hermione said, consolingly. "I'm sure Ron's really happy for you...he's just a little jealous, that's all."
"Yeah, I guess," Harry said, although not believing it.
"So what's your specialty class, then?" Hermione asked, swiftly changing the subject.
"I dunno," Harry said, pulling his letter towards him. "I didn't really read it yet." He scanned the paper briefly and Hermione observed Harry's jaw drop. "WHAT?!" he bellowed.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, alarmed.
"Potions! My specialty class is Potions!" he roared.
"It can't be, that's one of the Auror required courses," Hermione said, looking at the paper for herself. She too read that Harry would not only be taking Potions with her and Ron, but would be in the Advanced Potions Class. "Well I'm sure Professor McGonagall has a good reason..."
"Is she MAD?" he shouted. "Snape loathes me! Aren't specialty classes supposed to be things that you're good at?" He looked at Hermione, expecting her to come up with some sort of an explanation.
"Well yes," Hermione explained, "but if there's a shortage of a certain talent group, then students may end up taking a second subject."
"But Potions?" Harry groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Why not another Defense Against the Dark Arts course?"
"Well, we're taking the highest Defense Against the Dark Arts course they offer at Hogwarts," Hermione replied. "Defense Against the Dark Arts for Aurors."
"So what's yours?" Harry said, sighing and sitting back in his chair.
"Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione read from her letter. "Care of Magical Creatures?!" What she had read finally registered in her brain. Professor McGonagall had placed her in Care of Magical Creatures! She had been hoping for Arithmancy or Ancient Runes, but Care of Magical Creatures? "There must be some mistake..."
"I'm sure Professor McGonagall had a good reason," Harry mocked, smirking.
"Shut up, Harry," Hermione said, annoyed. Care of Magical Creatures?!
"Hey Hermione," Harry said, prodding her. He apparently was in a better mood now that he had realized that he was in the same boat as Ron and Hermione. "Snape wrote a book?"
"What're you talking about?" Hermione snapped, her mind still on the Specialty Class.
"Look here," Harry said, pointing to the last new textbook on the list.
"Well he is one the of the top potion masters in Britain," Hermione said.
"Snape?!" Harry exclaimed.
"I don't know why you're so surprised," Hermione said. "If you'd just read once in awhile, you'd know these things."
"You read enough for all three of us," Ron said, returning. "I've told Mum about you being Head Boy, Harry. She's in a right state, squealing and carrying on. She says we can go to Diagon Alley later on for our books. Ginny doesn't need any new ones, she's taking all of my old subjects, so it's just us now."
"Well, I've ended up with Potions as my specialty class," Harry grumbled.
"Potions?" Ron laughed. "Snape'll love that."
"Thanks Ron," Harry said, sarcastically.
"Well at least he'll be learning something," Hermione said, frowning. "You're stuck with that old fraud, and I'm in Care of Magical Creatures."
"That's alright then," Ron said. "You've got Hagrid."
"Well yes, I suppose..." Hermione said awkwardly. To be completely honest, Hagrid wasn't a very good teacher, and she wasn't quite looking forward to having that as her specialty. (How could that help in being an Auror anyway?) He would probably have them breeding dragons or crossing Nifflers with Kneazles.
"I still don't understand," Ron said, "how I managed to get back into Trelawney's class. I distinctly remember making up a load of mumbo jumbo and failing that O.W.L."
"Well actually Ron," Hermione said, "you didn't fail. You got one of the highest grades in the class."
"What're you on about?" Ron said. "For one thing, how do you know all this? And for another, I think I would remember getting the highest grade in the class."
"They keep all the O.W.L. tests on record and I was looking one up, when I found yours. You really did have the highest grade," Hermione replied.
"But that's impossible," Ron repeated. "How could I have done that well?"
"I didn't say you did well," Hermione said, a slight grin playing on her face. "I just said you got the highest grade."
"Shut up, Hermione," said Ron, scowling.
"Ron," Hermione asked, "can I borrow Pig? I want to send my Mum and Dad an owl." She wanted to give Ron and Harry some time to talk, and she figured now was a good a time as any. She trudged upstairs to find Pig twittering madly, banging against the bars of the cage. Grabbing a quill and parchment from Ron's desk, she wrote a letter to her parents, saying that she was Head Girl. Her mother would be quite proud, she expected, as she had been Head Girl at her own school. Albeit, Hogwarts was a bit different, but still, it was an honor. She opened the metal door and he zoomed out, flying circles and loop-the-loops around Ron's room.
"Come here," Hermione said, irritated. Eventually Pig flew down, tired out. She tied the letter to his leg and opened the window for him to fly out. She returned downstairs to find Ron by himself and Harry gone.
"Where did Harry go?" Hermione asked surprised.
"Who cares?" replied Ron, savagely.
"Did you and Harry have a row?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide.
"Yeah," Ron snapped. "So why don't you run along and comfort him. You two are friends after all."
"Ron! I'm your friend too!" Hermione exclaimed. "What happened?"
"While you were gone the Boy-Who-Lived brought it upon himself to apologize," Ron said, gruffly.
"What's wrong with that?" Hermione said, puzzled. But Ron refused to say anymore. Clearly their brief time alone hadn't had the outcome she'd planned. She went upstairs to find Harry in Sirius' old room, toying with a hand mirror.
"What happened between you and Ron?" Hermione asked, timidly. She didn't really want to interrupt Harry, as he seemed to be reminiscing, but if she let this argument get any further, it would only get worse.
He looked up suddenly, slightly surprised to see her, but a frown appeared on his face. "I'll tell you what happened. That-" (And here Harry inserted a word that caused Hermione to say "Harry!") "...happened. All I did was try to apologize!"
"Well what did you say?" Hermione asked, sitting down on the dusty bed. Even though all of Grimmauld Place had been cleaned, this room remained untouched. It was sort of eerie, the way it seemed as though Sirius had been there only a few minutes ago.
"I said, 'Ron, I know it's hard enough being best friends with the Boy-Who-Lived and whatever. And with all the stuff that's been happening lately, it hasn't really been getting any better. I'm really sorry you didn't get Head Boy.' I was sensitive and everything!"
"Not quite..."
"What d'you mean, not quite?"
"Don't you see, Harry? You sort of made it sound like he should be jealous of you. Although, I doubt that's what you meant."
"Of course it wasn't! He's just sitting down there pouting like the prat he is!"
Hermione sighed and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. The bed moved slightly and she noticed that Harry had joined her.
"I can't stand it when you two fight. It's horrible," Hermione said.
"Now you see how I feel when you and Ron go at it," Harry said.
"The worst was in our fourth year. You two weren't even speaking to each other."
"That's just one time. I couldn't count the amount of times when you and Ron weren't on speaking terms."
"Well we just argue. But whenever you and Ron fight it's serious."
"What about the time Ron was convinced that Crookshanks ate Scabbers?"
"If I remember correctly, that was the same time that you were angry with me because I told Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt," Hermione said, poking Harry playfully. "And I was right, wasn't I? Sirius DID send you that Firebolt." As she said it, she looked over at Harry apprehensively. She felt that he was pretty much calm about Sirius' death now, but she could never be sure.
"But he didn't jinx it, did he?" Harry said, starting to tickle her.
Hermione laughed madly, trying to roll away but each time Harry pulled her back. She tried desperately to talk, but kept wheezing with laughter. "If youâdon't stopâHarry PotterâI'll jinxâyou..."
"With what?" Harry laughed, completely ignoring her pleas. "You aren't of age Miss Granger."
"Enjoying yourselves, are you?" a cold voice said from the door.
Harry stopped tickling her and Hermione sat up immediately to see who it was: Ron.
"We were...until you showed up," Harry said, his voice equally cold.
"Would you two stop it?" Hermione said, getting up and standing between them. "It's stupid. There's no reason for you to be fighting."
"Oh yeah?" Ron said, hotly. "I think there is! I'm tired of Harry walking around with his nose in the air acting like he owns the world. Just because he's Dumbledore's favorite boyâ"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "Do you know who you sound like?" And it was true. Ron was sounding exactly like Draco Malfoy.
But Harry was more concerned about the accusations. "I do not act like I own the world," Harry bellowed. "I was trying to apologize but you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself! I don't even know why I bothered to apologize in the first place! It's not my fault you're jealous of me!" Hermione spun around her eyes wide. Well, she thought, the fat's in the fire now...
"Alright fine!" Ron said, in a strained voice. "So I'm jealous. You win everything. You're rich. You're the captain of the Quidditch Team and probably the best Seeker Hogwarts has ever seen. You're the Boy Who Lived. You always get all the attention. You even got Hermione."
At this Hermione blushed a color that any Weasley would have been proud of.
"And now Head Boy? I finally beat you at one thing but you always win no matter what Harry," Ron said, his voice deathly quiet. "And you know what the kicker is?" His voice had now become a strange laugh. "Even if you WEREN'T the Boy Who Lived, you would STILL have all of that. So no matter how I cut it, you always have and always will be better than me. And I can't stand it."
It seemed Ron had wanted to get that off of his chest for a long time. He flushed even darker than Hermione had and turned and left the room.
Hermione immediately went up to Harry and prodded him hard in the chest. "Now you see here, Potter," she said firmly. "I want you to make up with Ron immediately. Because until further notice, I'm not speaking to either of you...and let's not forget we have N.E.W.T.s this year. I doubt you two will be able to get on without me."
Reviews:
Chrys-Moony-Marauder: I enjoyed reading that review. A very interesting psychological perspective of Ron. Did I do it right? I'm not sure I did...
Mara342: Yup! If you keep readin' 'em, I'll keep writin' 'em!
Magadorag: You've really got me thinking with this one. In fact, I've been pondering it ever since you said it and I really don't know. It all depends upon how we measure time. If we measure time the way we measure it now, then Hermione hasn't really gotten any older. But do we all measure time individually? How then, would the International Date Line come into play? Oh, and on that line, I support the theory that Fred and George are experience time travelers.
PinkSmurf04: sighs Yeah, they are adorably aren't they...it's one of those times when I'm glad I'm an HHr shipper.
TrulyAnna: Yeah, I'm really feeling sorry for Ron right now...ï...