Chapter Fifteen:
Spying
Harry slipped beneath his invisibility cloak and started town the spiral staircase into the Gryffindor Common Room. It was bustling with Gryffindors getting ready for breakfast. Harry didn't have to worry about getting ready because he already was. Slowly, he wove around people in his attempt to get to the portrait hole. After a minute or two of getting past the two Creevey brothers, he made it.
As he pushed it open, he almost ran into someone but had just enough time to get to the side for them to slip by. Quickly so that he wouldn't get caught by anyone, he made his way to the Marble Staircase and made his way down it, trying not to step on the edges of the cloak as he started for the Great Hall.
He had a feeling Hermione was already there, but he didn't know for sure. He was glad he was beneath his invisibility cloak because he could now spy without getting seen by anyone, unless Mad-Eye Moody was around, and Harry knew for sure he wasn't anywhere near him.
Harry was about to slip into the Great Hall when he noticed someone in the Library. Stopping in the middle of the entrance hall, he stared at the Library with its nice arches and rows and rows of bookshelves. Moving closer, he spotted a flash of red hair surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper.
Slowly, the features of Ron came into focus through the weaving of the cloak. At first glance, Harry would have thought Ron was working on his homework, but then he remembered that they didn't have any.
The usually soft features of Ron were twisted horribly as he frowned at the parchment he was scribbling on. Harry accidentally kicked one of the balls of parchment on the floor around Ron and stopped as Ron looked up. For a moment, Harry thought he'd been found out, but Ron went back to his writing.
Quickly, he covered one of the balls with his cloak and picked it up silently, trying not to make much noise as he walked away with it, unfolding the mess of parchment.
Looking down at it carefully, he saw that it was the start of what appeared to be an owl post amidst the crumpled lines all through the khaki parchment. But, as Harry read some of it, he noticed that Ron wasn't writing to someone who lived outside the school. It was to someone at the school because Ron mentioned being in classes with the person. But, as he scanned to the bottom of the page, he found no name of the person.
The note read:
Okay,
This is really hard for me to write, so hear me out.
I've known you for a long time, and we've been in classes for
who knows how long? But, anyway...
There's something I've wanted to tell you since I met you.
It kind of started to set off last year and that's when I noticed that I
had feelings for you. It's kind of complicated and I don't know if I'm
just being stupid wanting something I can never have or reaching for
ridicule.
The other day when I was serving detention with Snape,
he asked me a question. I didn't have to answer, but I did because
he said he'd let me go early. I don't doubt everyone knows the
answer to this question by now, but he asked me if I liked you. I
have no clue how he figured it out. I lied, of course, but in all truth,
I do like you.
So, I wanted to know if you'd give me a chance. I know it would
be really, REALLY awkward, but I think it could work. We'd make a
great team and we already know each other well enough.
That's pretty much it. I'll try to talk to you later.
-Ron.
Harry brought the note down and looked up at Ron. He looked like he'd written at least four of five more attempts at that note, and Harry found himself intrigued at who Ron liked.
But, he had no idea. Ron could like anybody.
Snape? He thought to himself as he watched Ron. How did Snape find out who Ron liked and not me?
Shrugging, he started out of the Library, taking the note with him and headed towards the Great Hall.
Hermione was on her way down to Hagrid's hut with the rest of her class when Draco stepped up behind her.
"Hermione – hey." he said as he brushed his hair out of his face.
She smiled and slowed her pace.
"Hey. You look like you've ran a while."
Draco grinned.
"All the way from the castle to get to you." They both shared a laugh and then Draco went on. "I had to talk to you, you know – about tonight."
"Sure. What's up?"
Draco was taken aback with this last statement. "What's up? Since when did you pick up the Muggle-ish slang?"
Hermione shrugged. "It's easier than saying whole grammatically correct sentences."
This got Draco to grin.
"Well, cool, I guess. Anyway...if you want, we can meet in the entrance hall. I got a pass from Snape so that we can be out until seven thirty."
Hermione nodded. "Sure. Why not?"
Why not exactly, Draco thought to himself.
"So, it's a date then."
He immediately regretted saying this because he wasn't trying to add any hidden messages into anything. He started blushing as Hermione laughed.
"You're kind of cute, you know?"
After another minute or so, they made it to Hagrid's. To their surprise, there were no creatures prepared for them to work on. Instead, Hagrid had taken nine or ten giant pots and placed something in each that the students were to find.
"Uh...afteh the erklin' inciden', I though' i' would be a good change teh work on somethin' tha' doesn'...um...hurt people." He glanced over at Hermione and smiled. "An' I'm also pleased teh have 'Ermione back wit' us. Please divide into groups of two or three fer each pot."
Draco glanced at Hermione with a grin. "How's about it? Partners?"
Hermione nodded.
"Sure." The only other people she would have wanted to be partners with were Harry and Ron, but they had found themselves and she wasn't exactly getting along with Harry enough to want to work side by side with him.
Quickly, they found a pot near the edge of the woods, up against Hagrid's garden fence. Draco was glad that nobody was watching them. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have forgotten that he existed and nobody in Slytherin was making comments any more about Hermione or him for that matter.
Looking back at the pot, he saw that Hermione was already using her hands to dig at the soft soil.
"You're using your hands?" he asked as he pulled out his wand.
"Why not?" she replied. "It's the fastest way. They can't do much with moving spells because they'll move only chunks of dirt with the object we're searching for along with it."
Draco nodded, not having thought of it that way.
"You know," he started. "Now that we're kind of alone – or away from everybody – I wanted to talk to you."
Hermione didn't look up. "Okay. Go ahead."
Draco put a hand on hers to stop her.
"Seriously," he replied as she looked up. He quickly moved his hands away from hers and tried not to notice the red tinge in his cheeks.
"Okay..." she said as she brushed her hair out of her face.
"Let's see," Draco started, nervously. "Where should I start? Okay, so we've been working on this project for a little while, right?"
"Right."
"So, I've gotten to know you pretty well – compared to the way Potter and Weasley know you. Yesterday after we talked in the hallway, my father came out and told me he'd heard everything we'd said to each other."
Hermione frowned.
"But, we didn't say anything, really."
"I know. But, he's angry that I'm getting along with you because you're...well, a..."
Hermione nodded. "It's okay. I understand."
"No – you don't. That's not what I think of you anymore. I was just scared, that's all. Just scared that I'd be picked out from my first year here and on! I'm sorry, Hermione and I wanted to make it up to you."
Hermione looked a little confused at first, then started.
"Look, it's okay. I get it. You don't have to make it up to me. I already know you're sorry."
"Not enough." Draco replied stubbornly.
Hermione sighed with a smile and started digging once again. But, after a minute or so of digging, she pulled her hand back.
"Ouch!" she said as she looked at her hand. There was a long cut down her finger and a drop of blood had seeped out of it. "That hurt! What was that?"
Draco shook his head, not knowing. "Maybe it was a sharp rock or something." He stared at her hand. "Does it hurt a lot?" he asked.
"Well, a little..." she said as he took her hand into his to examine the cut.
"Oh, it's only a little cut. Don't worry about it."
He then reached into his bag and pulled out a handkerchief and started wrapping a strip of it around her fingers to stem the bleeding. She looked up, but he wasn't paying attention to her eyes. He looked so...caring.
"There." he said finally, tying the knot. "That should hold it."
"Thank you..." Hermione said as they both caught each other's glances. For the first time, she noticed that his eyes were a wonderful shade of aquamarine and the light danced on them brilliantly.
Slowly, their faces got closer, but then Draco pulled away from her with a sort of chuckle.
"Well, we'd better get back to the project, you know."
Hermione nodded. She watched as Draco started digging through the dirt and started to uncover something in the soft brown.
"Look," he said as he started pulling out a tiny golden object from the dirt, showing it to her. "This is probably what you cut your hand on."
It was a knut and Hermione chuckled.
"Never thought I'd be cut by my own money!" she said as she grinned.
But, Draco noticed something different about this knut. It had a hole drilled into the top of it. He looked it over.
"Do you want it?" he asked as he handed it to her.
"No," she replied. "You can keep it."
"Okay."
Pocketing the coin, Draco decided he's find something to do with it later.
Everyone else was finding knuts too. This had turned out to be an enjoyable class after all.
"Look at them!" Harry said angrily as he dug through his pot with Ron on the side, scribbling once again on a spare piece of parchment.
"You know, Harry," he started, not looking up. "Why don't you just forget about Hermione? She's not worth the trouble. Can't you take the hint?"
Harry groaned and threw his handful of dirt to the ground angrily.
"You know, Ron, I've had it up to here with you these past few days! Why aren't you on my side? You said you were all for Hermione and I being a couple."
Ron shrugged.
"I changed my mind."
"What?" Harry shot back. "You changed your mind? Why?"
"Well," Ron started. "For one, if you guys are fighting like this all the time, it's not going to work anyway. And besides, for another thing, I think you should find someone you have more in common than Hermione."
"We have a lot in common!" Harry spat back defensively.
"Oh yeah," Ron said sarcastically. "She's a know-it-all and you're a kid who gets good grades. Those are two really in-common traits, Harry."
Harry groaned.
"Ron – what the Hell are you writing all the time?" he shot at Ron in the most annoyed tone he could muster.
Ron looked up this time.
"What do you mean all the time?" he asked back. "I only started writing them this morning and I haven't written one all the time we were in classes – or at breakfast for that matter."
"You weren't at breakfast, Ron." Harry replied. "I'm not stupid and I notice when my best friend isn't eating. Who're you writing the notes to, Ron?"
Ron shot him a confused glance.
"Notes? Where in the world did you get that idea?"
Harry chuckled. "Come on, Ron. You're writing notes to someone you like. Or – someone you have liked for a while. Anyone can see it. Who is it? Come on. I'm dying to know."
Ron got to his feet and stared down at Harry.
"You've been spying on me!"
"What? No!" Harry lied out of habit.
"Yes, you have! I knew I heard someone in the Library listening to me!"
And with that, he turned to leave. But, Harry got to his feet and followed him.
"No – Ron! Wait!"
Ron didn't.
"Ron! Wait – I'm sorry, okay?"
Ron stopped and turned to face Harry. They were a ways away from Hagrid's and nobody could hear them.
"Sorry?" he asked as though he didn't believe it. "Harry, that's your problem. You're never sorry. You spied on me and you don't even feel a bit of remorse over it! Do you know how much it hurts that I can't trust you?"
Harry did feel the tinge of guilt in his gut as he tried to explain.
"What was I supposed to do, Ron? You used to tell me everything, and now you don't even tell me which homework assignment you're working on! What is going on with you?"
Ron shook his head.
"No. Don't try to turn the conversation on me. This is about you betraying me."
"Then why didn't you tell me who you liked before I had to find out for myself?"
Ron groaned.
"Harry! I can't tell you!"
There was a moment of silence as Ron caught his breath.
"Wha – what do you mean you can't tell me?"
"I can't tell anybody, okay? So just leave me alone for a while."
And with that, he turned and started back up to the castle, leaving Harry alone and to finish digging out their pot to find their coin.
Harry sighed as he started back to Hagrid's. The mirror was right.
Spying
Harry slipped beneath his invisibility cloak and started town the spiral staircase into the Gryffindor Common Room. It was bustling with Gryffindors getting ready for breakfast. Harry didn't have to worry about getting ready because he already was. Slowly, he wove around people in his attempt to get to the portrait hole. After a minute or two of getting past the two Creevey brothers, he made it.
As he pushed it open, he almost ran into someone but had just enough time to get to the side for them to slip by. Quickly so that he wouldn't get caught by anyone, he made his way to the Marble Staircase and made his way down it, trying not to step on the edges of the cloak as he started for the Great Hall.
He had a feeling Hermione was already there, but he didn't know for sure. He was glad he was beneath his invisibility cloak because he could now spy without getting seen by anyone, unless Mad-Eye Moody was around, and Harry knew for sure he wasn't anywhere near him.
Harry was about to slip into the Great Hall when he noticed someone in the Library. Stopping in the middle of the entrance hall, he stared at the Library with its nice arches and rows and rows of bookshelves. Moving closer, he spotted a flash of red hair surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper.
Slowly, the features of Ron came into focus through the weaving of the cloak. At first glance, Harry would have thought Ron was working on his homework, but then he remembered that they didn't have any.
The usually soft features of Ron were twisted horribly as he frowned at the parchment he was scribbling on. Harry accidentally kicked one of the balls of parchment on the floor around Ron and stopped as Ron looked up. For a moment, Harry thought he'd been found out, but Ron went back to his writing.
Quickly, he covered one of the balls with his cloak and picked it up silently, trying not to make much noise as he walked away with it, unfolding the mess of parchment.
Looking down at it carefully, he saw that it was the start of what appeared to be an owl post amidst the crumpled lines all through the khaki parchment. But, as Harry read some of it, he noticed that Ron wasn't writing to someone who lived outside the school. It was to someone at the school because Ron mentioned being in classes with the person. But, as he scanned to the bottom of the page, he found no name of the person.
The note read:
Okay,
This is really hard for me to write, so hear me out.
I've known you for a long time, and we've been in classes for
who knows how long? But, anyway...
There's something I've wanted to tell you since I met you.
It kind of started to set off last year and that's when I noticed that I
had feelings for you. It's kind of complicated and I don't know if I'm
just being stupid wanting something I can never have or reaching for
ridicule.
The other day when I was serving detention with Snape,
he asked me a question. I didn't have to answer, but I did because
he said he'd let me go early. I don't doubt everyone knows the
answer to this question by now, but he asked me if I liked you. I
have no clue how he figured it out. I lied, of course, but in all truth,
I do like you.
So, I wanted to know if you'd give me a chance. I know it would
be really, REALLY awkward, but I think it could work. We'd make a
great team and we already know each other well enough.
That's pretty much it. I'll try to talk to you later.
-Ron.
Harry brought the note down and looked up at Ron. He looked like he'd written at least four of five more attempts at that note, and Harry found himself intrigued at who Ron liked.
But, he had no idea. Ron could like anybody.
Snape? He thought to himself as he watched Ron. How did Snape find out who Ron liked and not me?
Shrugging, he started out of the Library, taking the note with him and headed towards the Great Hall.
Hermione was on her way down to Hagrid's hut with the rest of her class when Draco stepped up behind her.
"Hermione – hey." he said as he brushed his hair out of his face.
She smiled and slowed her pace.
"Hey. You look like you've ran a while."
Draco grinned.
"All the way from the castle to get to you." They both shared a laugh and then Draco went on. "I had to talk to you, you know – about tonight."
"Sure. What's up?"
Draco was taken aback with this last statement. "What's up? Since when did you pick up the Muggle-ish slang?"
Hermione shrugged. "It's easier than saying whole grammatically correct sentences."
This got Draco to grin.
"Well, cool, I guess. Anyway...if you want, we can meet in the entrance hall. I got a pass from Snape so that we can be out until seven thirty."
Hermione nodded. "Sure. Why not?"
Why not exactly, Draco thought to himself.
"So, it's a date then."
He immediately regretted saying this because he wasn't trying to add any hidden messages into anything. He started blushing as Hermione laughed.
"You're kind of cute, you know?"
After another minute or so, they made it to Hagrid's. To their surprise, there were no creatures prepared for them to work on. Instead, Hagrid had taken nine or ten giant pots and placed something in each that the students were to find.
"Uh...afteh the erklin' inciden', I though' i' would be a good change teh work on somethin' tha' doesn'...um...hurt people." He glanced over at Hermione and smiled. "An' I'm also pleased teh have 'Ermione back wit' us. Please divide into groups of two or three fer each pot."
Draco glanced at Hermione with a grin. "How's about it? Partners?"
Hermione nodded.
"Sure." The only other people she would have wanted to be partners with were Harry and Ron, but they had found themselves and she wasn't exactly getting along with Harry enough to want to work side by side with him.
Quickly, they found a pot near the edge of the woods, up against Hagrid's garden fence. Draco was glad that nobody was watching them. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have forgotten that he existed and nobody in Slytherin was making comments any more about Hermione or him for that matter.
Looking back at the pot, he saw that Hermione was already using her hands to dig at the soft soil.
"You're using your hands?" he asked as he pulled out his wand.
"Why not?" she replied. "It's the fastest way. They can't do much with moving spells because they'll move only chunks of dirt with the object we're searching for along with it."
Draco nodded, not having thought of it that way.
"You know," he started. "Now that we're kind of alone – or away from everybody – I wanted to talk to you."
Hermione didn't look up. "Okay. Go ahead."
Draco put a hand on hers to stop her.
"Seriously," he replied as she looked up. He quickly moved his hands away from hers and tried not to notice the red tinge in his cheeks.
"Okay..." she said as she brushed her hair out of her face.
"Let's see," Draco started, nervously. "Where should I start? Okay, so we've been working on this project for a little while, right?"
"Right."
"So, I've gotten to know you pretty well – compared to the way Potter and Weasley know you. Yesterday after we talked in the hallway, my father came out and told me he'd heard everything we'd said to each other."
Hermione frowned.
"But, we didn't say anything, really."
"I know. But, he's angry that I'm getting along with you because you're...well, a..."
Hermione nodded. "It's okay. I understand."
"No – you don't. That's not what I think of you anymore. I was just scared, that's all. Just scared that I'd be picked out from my first year here and on! I'm sorry, Hermione and I wanted to make it up to you."
Hermione looked a little confused at first, then started.
"Look, it's okay. I get it. You don't have to make it up to me. I already know you're sorry."
"Not enough." Draco replied stubbornly.
Hermione sighed with a smile and started digging once again. But, after a minute or so of digging, she pulled her hand back.
"Ouch!" she said as she looked at her hand. There was a long cut down her finger and a drop of blood had seeped out of it. "That hurt! What was that?"
Draco shook his head, not knowing. "Maybe it was a sharp rock or something." He stared at her hand. "Does it hurt a lot?" he asked.
"Well, a little..." she said as he took her hand into his to examine the cut.
"Oh, it's only a little cut. Don't worry about it."
He then reached into his bag and pulled out a handkerchief and started wrapping a strip of it around her fingers to stem the bleeding. She looked up, but he wasn't paying attention to her eyes. He looked so...caring.
"There." he said finally, tying the knot. "That should hold it."
"Thank you..." Hermione said as they both caught each other's glances. For the first time, she noticed that his eyes were a wonderful shade of aquamarine and the light danced on them brilliantly.
Slowly, their faces got closer, but then Draco pulled away from her with a sort of chuckle.
"Well, we'd better get back to the project, you know."
Hermione nodded. She watched as Draco started digging through the dirt and started to uncover something in the soft brown.
"Look," he said as he started pulling out a tiny golden object from the dirt, showing it to her. "This is probably what you cut your hand on."
It was a knut and Hermione chuckled.
"Never thought I'd be cut by my own money!" she said as she grinned.
But, Draco noticed something different about this knut. It had a hole drilled into the top of it. He looked it over.
"Do you want it?" he asked as he handed it to her.
"No," she replied. "You can keep it."
"Okay."
Pocketing the coin, Draco decided he's find something to do with it later.
Everyone else was finding knuts too. This had turned out to be an enjoyable class after all.
"Look at them!" Harry said angrily as he dug through his pot with Ron on the side, scribbling once again on a spare piece of parchment.
"You know, Harry," he started, not looking up. "Why don't you just forget about Hermione? She's not worth the trouble. Can't you take the hint?"
Harry groaned and threw his handful of dirt to the ground angrily.
"You know, Ron, I've had it up to here with you these past few days! Why aren't you on my side? You said you were all for Hermione and I being a couple."
Ron shrugged.
"I changed my mind."
"What?" Harry shot back. "You changed your mind? Why?"
"Well," Ron started. "For one, if you guys are fighting like this all the time, it's not going to work anyway. And besides, for another thing, I think you should find someone you have more in common than Hermione."
"We have a lot in common!" Harry spat back defensively.
"Oh yeah," Ron said sarcastically. "She's a know-it-all and you're a kid who gets good grades. Those are two really in-common traits, Harry."
Harry groaned.
"Ron – what the Hell are you writing all the time?" he shot at Ron in the most annoyed tone he could muster.
Ron looked up this time.
"What do you mean all the time?" he asked back. "I only started writing them this morning and I haven't written one all the time we were in classes – or at breakfast for that matter."
"You weren't at breakfast, Ron." Harry replied. "I'm not stupid and I notice when my best friend isn't eating. Who're you writing the notes to, Ron?"
Ron shot him a confused glance.
"Notes? Where in the world did you get that idea?"
Harry chuckled. "Come on, Ron. You're writing notes to someone you like. Or – someone you have liked for a while. Anyone can see it. Who is it? Come on. I'm dying to know."
Ron got to his feet and stared down at Harry.
"You've been spying on me!"
"What? No!" Harry lied out of habit.
"Yes, you have! I knew I heard someone in the Library listening to me!"
And with that, he turned to leave. But, Harry got to his feet and followed him.
"No – Ron! Wait!"
Ron didn't.
"Ron! Wait – I'm sorry, okay?"
Ron stopped and turned to face Harry. They were a ways away from Hagrid's and nobody could hear them.
"Sorry?" he asked as though he didn't believe it. "Harry, that's your problem. You're never sorry. You spied on me and you don't even feel a bit of remorse over it! Do you know how much it hurts that I can't trust you?"
Harry did feel the tinge of guilt in his gut as he tried to explain.
"What was I supposed to do, Ron? You used to tell me everything, and now you don't even tell me which homework assignment you're working on! What is going on with you?"
Ron shook his head.
"No. Don't try to turn the conversation on me. This is about you betraying me."
"Then why didn't you tell me who you liked before I had to find out for myself?"
Ron groaned.
"Harry! I can't tell you!"
There was a moment of silence as Ron caught his breath.
"Wha – what do you mean you can't tell me?"
"I can't tell anybody, okay? So just leave me alone for a while."
And with that, he turned and started back up to the castle, leaving Harry alone and to finish digging out their pot to find their coin.
Harry sighed as he started back to Hagrid's. The mirror was right.