You should talk to someone about this, Harry's mind told him.
Yes! his heart agreed.
Preferably someone you know very, very well, his mind continued.
And knows you well, too, his heart added.
You should tell someone - to help get it out of your system, his mind urged.
Because it doesn't work out well when you keep things like this inside, his heart agreed.
It would really help, you know, his mind said. I bet it'd help you get over this Ally person.
That is, if you want to get over her, his heart said slowly and thoughtfully.
Harry sighed heavily and leaned forward onto the balusters on his elbows. "Maybe I should talk to Hermione," Harry decided, whispering thoughtfully into the night. After a moment of hesitation, Harry walked back inside the house and to Hermione and Ally's room.
"Hermione?" Harry asked as he knocked.
"Mmmm?"
"Is that you, Hermione?"
"Mmm-hmmm."
Harry almost chuckled from confusion. "Is that a 'yes' or 'no'?"
"Mmmm."
"Goodness," Harry said airily, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Whoa! Relax, Harry," Hermione said as she opened the door. She giggled softly. "What is it?" she asked, leaning against the half-open door.
"Can I talk to you? It's important. It's about, um...you know..."
Hermione's brown eyes grew bigger and sparkled with an excitement that she'd been waiting to feel since she first learned Ally was awake. Hermione smiled a radiant smile and jumped up and down for a few seconds, her brown curls bouncing upon her shoulders.
"All right, all right, Hermione," Harry said, chuckling at his friend's happiness.
"Right," she answered. She stopped jumping around and smoothed out her carnation spaghetti-strap dress and cleared her throat professionally. "Right. So, would you like to talk inside or outside?"
"Well, um...is Ally in there?" Harry pointed inside the room.
"Oh, no! She's downstairs in the kitchen with Sirius, Ginny, and Penelope. Ginny and Penny are telling Ally and Sirius about what's happened since Sirius died and Ally, well, you know - "
"Yeah, I do," Harry interrupted in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Yeah, of course you do - erm, so come in," Hermione said at long last, gesturing him inside with her arm and closing the door behind him.
Harry stood a few steps by the door and observed the small room. There were two beds, one on either side of the room, and they weren't very big. They had a mauve blanketting over the mattresses with matching mauve pillows. The bed to the right of the room was neat, all folded and nearly wrinkle-free; the bed to the left was covered with papers and books and a few T-shirts.
"That one's mine," Hermione said quietly, pointing to the messy bed. "Sorry, it's not so tidy. I was grading papers, and I wasn't expecting anyone other than Ally, and she really couldn't care less about my messes." She sat down on her bed and began rummaging through everything and organizing what was what and putting them in very neat stacks on the bedside drawer beside her bed. "Gimme a few minutes, okay?"
Harry nodded and continued to observe the room. There were two bedside drawers, both made of dark wood, each one beside a bed. Each of the drawers had a lamp atop them, but only Hermione's was on. At the end of Hermione's bed was a small desk with more papers and books and things strewn about it's surface, and another lamp sat with the mess. The middle of the room was bare and separated the bedside drawers from each other. Located on the far wall, a large window overlooked the woods behind the Burrow. Underneath the window was a small waste basket, filled to the brim with papers and empty ink bottles, with a few rolled-up pieces of parchment around it. At the end of both beds and on the walls they touched, was a closet. Hermione's was open and exhibited a grand array of clothing all about the floor, some hung on their hangers, and some only half hung. The walls were a bare white - no posters, no framed photos, nothing.
"All right, then. Everything's pretty much cleaned up," Hermione said after Harry had finished taking in his surroundings. She had begun to take each stack of papers and placing each of them onto Ally's bed.
"Do you think she'll - " Harry started.
"Allow it? Of course. She says teachers have it tough, and she would love to be able to help me in any way. This," she said, gesturing to the neat paper stacks on Ally's bed, "is any way."
Harry smiled and sat down on Hermione's bed. Hermione followed and sat beside him.
"So, Harry, what's up?"
Harry sighed. He opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it again.
"Harry?"
Harry looked at his friend with a wincing look on his face. "Well, you know how...that time...when you were unconscious, and I said that...that I loved Ally and...then...then I said that...I said that...erm, I said that - "
"You were kidding?" Hermione helped. She had a smile on her face even though she hated to remember how Harry had played her like that.
"...Er, yeah. Right."
"Yes, I remember. What about it?"
"Well, I, er...I sort of...erm, I sort of...lied," Harry confessed.
Hermione's eyes grew big once more and the smile on her pretty face grew into a glowing, radiant smile that could light up even the darkest of hearts. She was ready to scream like a giddy teenage girl, but then remembered how Harry had lied to her that night. What should make this night so different? she thought and soon regained her composure and calmed down. "You...lied?" she asked.
"Yeah, I did. Actually, I really do love her. I still love her as much as before."
"Really?"
"Yeah..."
"So, why did you lie to me, Harry?"
"Because...because..." Harry paused, thinking. I want to choose the right words, Harry thought. If I don't, then I'm going to sound like a complete idiot!
"Because?" Hermione asked.
"Because I wanted to tell you the truth, but I didn't want to get hurt."
"Get hurt?" Hermione asked. "How could you possibly get hurt by telling Ally you love her?"
"I don't know. I thought she would've gotten over me by now - "
"She was unconscious, Harry. Eveything that happened to her before she fell into a coma would've seemed like yesterday to her when she woke up - "
"I know!" Harry said. "But after she fell into that...that damn coma, I didn't know what to do! I just thought 'Oh, it's all right. Everything will be fine. She'll wake up tomorrow.' But then tomorrow never came, Hermione! I was in denial! I just rid myself of her - everything that had anything to do with Ally. I rid myself of it! What good is it to love someone who became a vegetable overnight?"
"I don't think there is any good in that, but Harry - "
"Exactly! No good it in, no good in it whatsoever! So I just...tried to forget about her, and it worked. It worked until...until - "
"Until finally tomorrow came?" Hermione helped, putting a loving hand on his shoulder.
Harry looked at her through glassy eyes. "Yeah..." he said quietly and put his face in his hands. "I'm such an emotional wreck, Herm - "
"Harry, just tell her how you feel. She won't hurt you, and she won't be upset or anything. I promise."
"How do you know?"
"Because she feels the same way, too," Hermione replied softly, offering him a small but friendly smile.
"Should I go down there and tell her now?"
"No, I don't think that'd be a good idea right now. Just...just wait a while," Hermione advised.
"So...when should I tell her?"
"When the time is right, and when you two aren't at each other's throats," she answered with a soft giggle.
"But when - "
"You know what? Since you are in dire need for this time to be scheduled, try the end of the week. Friday or Saturday."
Harry nodded, and the friends embraced.
"You know what, guys? I'm pretty tired right now, so I'll just head upstairs and go to bed. It's been wonderful talking with you." Ally stood and went up the stairs.
Ron was sitting in the guest room that Sirius was staying in with the twins, talking with Fred and George about Quidditch - again. He saw Ally pass by the open door, and a sudden burst of idea filled his head. It was a thought that had been bothering him since they all saw Ally that Sunday night.
"Ally!" Ron called out, running out the room. "I'll be back you two," he called behind him. "Ally!"
Ally turned around slowly. She knew that voice; it was none other than Ronald Weasley. She didn't understand why he would want to talk to her; they had never been on good terms with each other ever since she and Harry had gotten together; he always claimed that Ally was stealing Harry away from the "Dream Team" to kill him and rule the world. But, she didn't want to be rude to her host, so she turned around and smiled a friendly smile.
"Ally! Good, good," he said breathlessly, bending over and leaning on his knees. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Not to be rude, Ron - "
"You know, when people start a sentence with that particular phrase, they are being rude by not trying to be rude," he interrupted, straightening up his posture. "Besides, I think this will really help you out with...erm, you and Harry."
Ally bit her lower lip, a pensive look on her face.
"I really, really think it would help," Ron added.
"Why do you think it would help?" Ally asked. I'm not in the mood to be insulted by blunt comments made by some guy who doesn't even like me, she thought with a spite of anger.
"Because I can see what it's doing to Harry and what it's doing to you. You're depressed all the bloody time because Harry's gotten over you, and it's hurting Harry because he doesn't like seeing people sad on account of him. He's my best friend, Ally. He cares so much for you - hell, you have no idea how much!"
"So why doesn't he just tell me that?" Ally spat.
Ron looked around them both, in search of a room where they could talk - yell, in Ally's case. Then he noticed that they had stopped in front of the room with the piano. He nudged his head toward the room, hinting. Ally nodded; they both went inside.
"So, why doesn't he just tell me that he 'cares so much for me' as you say? Hmm? What could be so terrible if he did?" Ally asked again.
Ron chuckled. "Ally, have you seen the way you've been such an emotional wreck lately? Hmm? If someone like Harry, whom you've 'loved,' told you all of this - you'd be in an even worse condition!"
Ally sat down on the piano bench. There's nothing to be upset about, she thought. I mean, this is Ron telling me off here. It's Ron: the loser who couldn't even stand the fact that Harry and I had feelings for each other. I've already had my guard every other time he's said hurtful things to me, so why should this time be any different?
Because this time you want to hear what he has to say.
Ally looked at the ground. Yeah, I guess I do...but why?
Because you know you're hurting Harry, and you want to stop. He says he can tell you what to do to stop it. That's why, Ally.
How do I even know if he's telling the truth? He's lied to me before.
He cares for Harry so much. They're best friends, Ally, best friends. Best friends would do anything to save each other. Besides, you want to get over him. Don't you?
Well, yes...
So here we are. Listen to Ron.
Ally looked up at the redheaded boy who had his hands on his hips and an exasperated look on his face. "What should I do, Ron? I don't want to hurt him - hell, I don't even want to love him anymore! It's ruining me, and it's hurting him so much, and I just want it all to stop!" She buried her face in her hands and did her best to hold back the tears.
"Just think of him as a friend form now on - you know, like an out-of-your-league crush that you can only admire at a distance. Soon you'll get over him," Ron assured with a smile on his face.
"How do you know?"
"That's how I got over Hermione," he confessed.
"Oh..."
"Yeah - "
"Do you still love her?" Ally asked, looking into Ron's eyes, pleading for anything that could help her.
Ron hesitated, opening and closing his mouth. "No," he stated simply after a few minutes.
Ally decided to look through the facade, and she believed him. "Well, if it can work for you, then it should work for me, right?"
"Right."
Ally smiled a sincere smile to Ron. "Thanks, Ron. I'm sure this is something that I can do that will actually make Harry happy. It means so much to me that you wanted to help, even though you only did it for Harry. I'm just glad to know that you can talk to me and look at me like I'm a real person. So thanks." And with that, Ally walked out of the room and headed upstairs.
As Harry was going downstairs and Ally going upstairs, it is almost conceivable that their paths should cross, no?
"Hi, Harry," Ally said politely as she passed him.
"Oh, erm...hi. Er, hello, Ally," Harry stammered stopping on the steps as she passed him.
Ally stopped at her bedroom door and turned to face him. She looked into those green eyes, and for a moment she was consumed again by the love she had for him. Her heart moved into her throat, and she forced it back down. I need to start helping him now! "Good night," she smiled at him.
Harry smiled back, feeling his heart skip a few beats and his cheeks blushing with heat. "'Night, Ally," he said softly and watched her disappear into her bedroom. "Maybe we'll live happily ever after, like in those fairy tales," he whispered, watching the door hopefully, half-expecting to see Ally walk out.
