Sorry, it's been a bit more than a week. Thank you everyone for being nice and understanding! Real fast:
Word to my AWESOME reviewers:
Silwen Aurdomiel That wasn't a cliff-hanger, was it?! And this one isn't bad, either. ;) Thanks! And I'm glad you liked the will. It was really hard to write!
Harry/Ginnyfan4ever: Why are you glowering at me? Ha ha! You're the most dedicated H/G shipper ever!
WolfMoon: Thank you so much! And it's coming soon, I promise! :)
Pearl of the Moon: Thank you for reading!
Jules713: Thanks!
redhot chick: Thank you, but I can't tell you all that! You'll just have to read on... :)
The Wolf's Pen: Thank you! You can be un-insane now! ;)
And here it is: The belated (sorry!) eighth chapter!
Chapter 8: Light reading
"He's here, Ginny," Ron said hollowly. He had been dusting off the fireplace mantel, but stopped when he noticed the Thomas' car pull into the long dirt driveway of the Burrow.
Ginny and Harry had been setting the table. Dropping the forks she'd been setting around the huge dinner table, she darted for the front door.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks, and Harry resumed setting glasses above each plate. Mrs. Weasley was preparing sandwiches and salad for lunch. She was now directing a pair of knives in chopping vegetables. She noticed Ron and Harry's dark looks.
"Now boys," she said, looking stern, although Harry saw an amused gleam in her eyes. "Behave." Ron was glaring stonily at the front door.
Harry groaned inwardly. Nobody knew he liked Ginny, and he wanted it to stay that way. He'd just have to act normal around Dean, and forget he was jealous.
'Sounds easy enough...Ha, right. Sounds like ,' he mused to himself. But he managed to put on an indifferent face and greeted Dean cheerfully.
On Harry's birthday, Hermione came to stay for the rest of the summer.
Mrs. Weasley baked him a gigantic cake, and the twins and Lee Jordan joined the Weasleys, Dean and Hermione for Harry's party.
Hermione gave him a very interesting book about Anamagi, and Ron supplied him with a very large quantity of sweets.
Ginny gave him a quill that translated English into Latin, but when she said that it was from Dean, as well, Harry was unsure of whether he wanted to save the quill forever, burn it, or give it to Hermione, who was quite jealous, although she pretended not to be.
The next few days, Ginny and Dean spent a lot of time together, leaving Harry with a rather grouchy Ron. When Dean realized that Ron was upset with him for dating Ginny, he and Ginny seemed to avoid Ron, which meant that Dean and Ginny also avoided Harry.
Life at the Burrow was getting a little depressing for Harry. His inheritances from Sirius had not arrived yet, so the Pensieve and the diary could not be investigated as of then. And he was becoming more and more convinced that he had developed a crush on his best friend's little sister. It was quite hard for him to admit even to himself, but he was becoming very certain of the truth of it, as he felt anger tinged with jealously boil up inside him whenever Dean's arm was around Ginny, or whenever Hermione and her disappeared into Ginny's room for a few hours, giggling and telling stories, undoubtedly many about Dean.
Summer's end was nearing. Dean was scheduled to return to his on house on August 18th. It wasn't until August 16th that Harry received an owl informing him that a muggle delivery truck would bring his inheritances to the Burrow the following day.
"Harry, have you learned anything else about your mum's eyes?" Hermione inquired the same evening he'd received the owl. Ron glanced swiftly up at his best friend, his expression showing that he'd forgotten all about the mystery of Lily's eye color.
The three were relaxing in Ron's room. Hermione had been skimming the Daily Prophet, while Ron lied on his bed, trying to catch Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in his mouth, and Harry was glancing through his old History of Magic notes, with little interest, but looking over some of the things he and Ron and scribbled to each other during class; things not really pertaining to History of Magic.
Harry was surprised that this question hadn't come up earlier. He set his stack of notes down and shook his head wearily.
"Nothing. But tomorrow, when my mum's diary and my father's Pensieve come, I may learn something."
"We'll help," Ron said eagerly.
"I've done some research," Hermione announced.
"Surprise surprise," Ron muttered. Hermione shot him a look, and continued.
"This past week I read up on eye pigment, and why eyes change color, both in muggle and magical peoples books, and what I learned may interest you, Harry. There are many reasons for eyes to change color in the magical world. However, color change usually is only temporary.
"For eyes to permanently change color, there must either be some sort of special DNA circumstance, like, for example, elf-blood causes eyes to change color during puberty. The only other known ways for eyes to change color permanently are if a charm is cast on the eyes with the intent to permanently change the color, or if the person is hexed with a powerful spell, and they lose their real eyes. In such cases, the individual is given magical eyes, which function as normal ones, only the artificial eyes will reflect the person's personality through color, while his or her natural eyes showed their DNA in the color."
Ron and Harry exchanged looks.
"Think your mum got her eyeballs hexed out of her?" Ron asked doubtfully.
"Maybe she just wanted to change the color," Hermione reasoned.
'Maybe you're really an elf prince," Ron chuckled.
"Maybe Hermione's books don't know everything," Harry snapped irritably. It seemed rather disrespectful for his friends to suggest that his dead mother had worn artificial eyes, or magically changed her eye color when she was eleven. And even if she had--
"Hermione, if something like that happened, would it affect my eye color as well?" Harry asked. "Because green eyes are clearly in my genes."
"Well, if you were an elf, probably," Ron said, eyebrows raised. "Do you really think you're an elf?"
Harry scoffed at this.
"No, I mean the others. If she was hexed, or if she changed her eye color, would it be permanent enough to get into her genes, to affect my color?"
Hermione looked thoughtful.
"Probably not, Harry," she finally said. "Maybe, but I sort of doubt it." Harry heaved a sigh and nodded.
"What about why muggle eyes change color?" Ron asked.
"Well, as her eyes didn't change color until she was at a MAGICAL school, I assume it was for a MAGICAL reason. There are fewer reasons for muggle eyes to change, for reasons like blindness and what not." Hermione shrugged as she said this.
"Are you sure there're no other ways?" Harry demanded. He didn't like the possibilities thus far. Blindness and artificial eyes?
"There are many other theories," Hermione said hurriedly. "There's a big book called The Theory of Eye Color and Modification Later in Life that was already checked out when I went to the library. It contains, like, twenty different theories from the magical world's most accomplished Biologists, and it sounds like an amazing resource, but it had a waiting list half a meter long."
"Who in Merlin's beard's name would want to read something like that?" Ron marveled.
"Someone like Harry," Hermione said icily. Harry shrank back a little.
"I don't know, Hermione. When you say a book is big, that's a little bit scary." Hermione shot him a look as well, as Ron snorted.
"Fine. If you don't want my help, I'll go somewhere else," and she made to leave, but Harry quickly stopped her.
"I was joking," he said, blocking the doorway. "Hermione, don't be thick. You know your IQ is ten times mine and Ron's combined."
"IQ?" Ron repeated.
"Muggle intelligence test," Harry said quickly. "But seriously, Hermione. Thank you for doing all that research." Hermione relaxed a bit.
"Well, you know me. I quite like research and such things, and my house is just an hour from the Library of Magical Manuscript, so I picked up some things before I came here. It was no trouble, really, and I want to find out about your mum's eyes too, and--"
"We get it, Hermione," Ron said, cutting off her rambling and rolling his eyes. Instead of getting irritated again, Hermione just grinned.
"'Bout time, Ron," she said, locking eyes with him for a long moment. Then, blushing a bit, she turned her gaze to the carpet. Ron coughed a bit, and Harry mused at the strange exchange he'd just witnessed.
"I'm starved. Let's get back to this later, and go see what's for dessert," Ron said quickly. Harry nodded, catching a whiff of something--perhaps upside-down cake?--in his nostrils, and Ron darted for the door, his two best friends at his heels.
A/N:
A little short, I know, but give me some credit--it's a school night! So y'all should feel really loved! I'll try to update as soon as I can! Sorry about all the typos last chappie. Hopefully this one's cleaner. Make my day and review! Let me know what you're thinking! :) Thank you for reading! You guys are great!
