Disclaimer: People (apart from Bethany) and places are not mine.
The sun's rays came poking through the curtains of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Slowly the students began to rise for yet another day of lessons. The Great Hall lay silent waiting for the bustle of students, who in a couple of hours would fill it. A whole new day lay ahead at Hogwarts along with a whole new array of challenges and problems.
Hermione was the first to get out of bed. Rather than being in her usual jolly mood she felt a little guilty. She had not see Harry as upset as he was last night for a long time. Quiddich was his way out from all the craziness that was his life. He was able to let go when playing, he was able to be himself. And now he couldn't, instead it was Neville that was the Gryffindor seeker. Hermione was not sure why she felt guilty, Neville would probably have tried out for the team anyway. Besides Harry had been lagging a bit on practise recently. Perhaps that had been her fault as well, they had been spending quite a lot of time together. Of course there had been nothing in this, they had merely been preparing for Harry's fight with Voldermort. It had only been a few days but Hermione was already missing these precious moments together. She was not sure how long she could carry on the pretence. She trudged towards her bedroom mirror and stared at the reflection. If she had know how complicated boys were she would have stay far away from them. Now Ron there was a boy she understood. She began to pull on her clothes. Yes she would go and talk to Ron he would know what to do.
Neville Longbottom heaved himself out of bed. Harry and the others made quiddich look so easy, but it wasn't. Poor Neville was covered from head to toe in bruises. The practise itself had gone well, it was just that when he had been coming into land he had fallen off his broom. The team had laughed and blamed it on nerves. Still Neville had seen the worried look on Angelina's face and her slightly desperate glance towards Harry. Harry, Neville still felt guilty about what he had done. Perhaps he would quit the team, he didn't feel totally comfortable playing. He was Neville Longbottom after all and this kind of thing just was not him. Neville pondered this for a while. Why had he joined the team? Was it just to impress other people, Hermione, or perhaps Ginny. He smiled to himself. Yes Ginny Weasley would be really impressed when she saw him on the field. Perhaps they might even be able to have a conversation. Neville blushed at the thought. He shook his head, it was wrong to think about Ginny when he was going out with Hermione. But how long could he continue to string her along for. Before she had asked him out, Neville had been sure that she was the girl for him. But now, now he had all these doubts and feelings. He needed help and badly. Harry, he would ask Harry, there was no one in Hogwarts that understood Hermione better than Harry. He would be able to help Neville out of the situation. After all he didn't want to break Hermione's heart. She was such a lovely, clever girl.
Harry pulled the blanket back over his head. Perhaps if he could not see the sun it would not be a new day. He could just stay in bed for a while longer and wake up with things back to the way they had been. He would walk down to breakfast with Ron and meet up with Hermione. After playful exchanging banter they would go to their lessons. Yes perhaps the whole Neville thing had been a dream, Hermione and him were not really together. Harry's thoughts drifted towards Hermione. He knew he had neglected her a bit recently. Sure they had spent a lot of time together but most of that had been on researching spells and charms to help him in his fight. Could it be that she had only gone out with Neville to get back at him. Would Hermione even do a thing like that? The likelihood was slim but not impossible. Harry was not sure how he felt about this. He was in a way happy that Hermione liked him enough to try and make him jealous, but he was also mad. How could she do such a childish thing? Harry had no idea, he needed advice. But who to ask, who did he know that might have some insight into the situation. Of course when he thought about it it was obvious, Ginny Weasley. Yes Ginny would explain this to him. Harry pulled the covers down and slowly emerged from his bed.
Out of the four Ron Weasley was the happiest. He gleefully leapt out of bed and ran towards his wardrobe. Today was his date, sorry study period with Bethany and he couldn't wait. He glanced towards Harry's bed but when he saw the covers pulled up he turned his attention back to the wardrobe. What was he going to wear? It needed to be something smart, something that would impress Bethany. She looked like a hard girl to impress but Ron was sure with his charm he could. After all Hermione had had a crush on him for ages. Of course she had never said anything but Ron knew it was true. He could pick up on these kind of vibes from girls. Fred and George had told him that if a girl was nasty to you it meant she liked you. If that was true then Ron had an huge following of girls. But he didn't care about them his attention was fixed solely on Bethany.
The four students headed down towards the Great Hall, each caught up in their own little worlds. Ron bounded down the stairs like a giant puppy, he couldn't wait to see Bethany. Perhaps if he got to breakfast quick enough he would catch at glimpse of her. Ron's lack of attention to the stairs meant that he tripped down the last two. Not that he cared he simply picked himself up and bounded off towards the Hall leaving Harry behind. Harry didn't even notice he trudged slowly to the hall thinking about how strange girls were. Neville was taking one step at a time, his bruises made it painful for him to walk too quickly. Rather than chasing after Harry, he would meet up with him in the Great Hall. Hermione had fallen back behind the others. She didn't particularly want to see any of them yet. She would talk to Ron later when she'd had time to think about what she was going to say. Until then she would get on with other things, like the mounting pile of work she had to do. Sure most of it was not due in for at least a week but that was not the point, it needed to be done and now was as good a time as any.
