Author's Note: Sorry, people, writer's block. Didn't want to post anything 'cause it BEEP totally BEEP so BEEP much.
Misao, Demon Master – Never really liked Lockhart until he became your review buddy. You really make a combination… ;)
Bizm – Made my day. D
Also thanks to The Iviest, Degreassifan2010, Alixandra, TomF'sAngelgirl, Shading in Grey, ravolis, Pussin Boots.
Chapter 36 – Trouble in Paradise
"You know, Harry", I said slowly, "I think I might sort of like you."
He smiled with his beautiful emerald eyes glittering as he slid his arms around my waist. My heart almost melted.
"You know, Tamara", he said slowly, "I think I might sort of like you too. A lot."
I smiled, not remembering the last time I had ever been this happy. "We definitively need to remember to thank Ginny", I said.
"Oh yeah", he said. "I can't believe it was so obvious. I mean, Ron has been nagging me about it for quite a while-"
"Ginny and Hermione too", I said. Then I frowned. "But honestly, was it really that obvious? I never thought you liked me."
"I didn't think you liked me either."
"We've been so stupid."
"Blind."
"Love is blinding."
He frowned.
"Literally", I said. "Perhaps we were so blind that we didn't see that the other one returned our feelings?"
"I've never heard that proverb being used in that way, but now that you say it, it actually does make sense."
We were interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. "You two", Ron's voice was heard, "aren't you finished yet? C'mon, Harry, I wanna continue playing chess."
"Leave them alone, Ron. I don't think they want to be disturbed." Obviously Hermione had joined them. Actually, I had no idea they had been waiting outside all this time. I'd have thought they had gone somewhere else and done something, I don't know, but it was very naive of me to think so. Did I really expect them to leave us alone…?
"So", Harry said, "d'you reckon we should let them in or lock them out?"
"D'you think they'll go away if we pretend to not hear?"
"No."
"Then perhaps we should let them in."
Harry nodded. "You lot on the other side of the door", he said, "it's not locked. You can come in, if you want."
The door immediately burst open and Hermione and the two Weasleys entered.
"That took time", Ron muttered.
"Ron!" Hermione said.
"Sorry, dear", Ron replied offhandly.
Hermione giggled. "It's so funny, Ron's begun calling me dear. It gives me the feeling that we're an old married couple, is that a good or a bad sign?"
"As long as you're happy," I said, "it should be a good sign, shouldn't it?"
"So what should I call you then?" Harry said quietly in my ear.
I put my head on one side. "Hm", I mused, "I don't know. Whatever you feel comfortable with."
"Come here, sweetheart", he said and pulled me into a hug.
"I like that", I mumbled. "Go for sweetheart."
"I like it too", he replied.
"Oh look at these two", Hermione exclaimed. "Aren't they cute together? All the whispering and such."
"For your information", Harry said, "you two" – he nodded towards her and Ron – "whispered quite a lot when you started going out."
"Yeah", Hermione said and glanced at Ron. "I wonder when we quit doing that."
"I'll whisper in your ear, as soon as I've finished this game of chess", Ron said impatiently. "Harry!"
"He'll eat me if I don't finish that game", Harry whispered, "actually he's very capable of doing that."
I nodded. My gaze fell upon Ginny, who was standing in the doorway. She was smiling cheerfully, but her eyes were sad.
"I'll go and talk to Ginny", I said quietly and kissed Harry's cheek briefly before heading over to Ginny.
"Hey Gin", I said, "can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Of course", she said.
We left the room and headed over into ours. "I couldn't help but notice in there", I said slowly, "you seemed kind of sad…?"
"I'm fine."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"I also wanted to say thank you, I really hated it but I guess you were right all the time."
"Of course."
I frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" she said and smiled. "You two are such a perfect couple."
I looked down on my feet. "Yeah…", I said. "Gin… are you really okay with this? Harry and me? I know you liked him-"
"Yes", she said simply. "I did. But he didn't like me at all, not in that way, so I gave up on that. And I think you going out with him will help me to move on."
I smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Hey guys", the door flung open and Harry stood in the doorway, "come."
Then he headed off again, Ginny and I following. "What?"
We entered Harry and Ron's room again, and there was Hermione, with a letter with the Hogwarts crest printed on it. She just stared at it, not believing her eyes.
"What's that?" Ginny asked. She walked over to Hermione, snatched the parchment from her and began reading it out loud.
"Dear Miss Granger,
Due to certain circumstances we have been late with some administration for the upcoming school year. But we are very pleased to be able to inform you that you have been chosen as Head Girl-" Ginny's voice faded away. "Head Girl? Hermione? Oh my God! Congratulations!"
"I don't believe it", Hermione mumbled, staring out into empty air.
"If you think about it", Ron said, "there's really no one who would be better as Head Girl."
"Who's Head Boy?" Ginny wondered curiously.
"I have no idea", Harry said. "Probably one from one of the other houses."
"I'm Head Girl!" Hermione shrieked.
The rain clattered on the window. God is sad, I thought. Very sad. It was pouring down. I had honestly believed that rain came when God was crying until I was around five years old. When it was snowing; he was baking – the snowflakes were flour he spilled out. Nowadays I knew better though.
"Feels a bit weird, doesn't it?" I said. "Last night."
Ginny nodded. "Tomorrow it's back to the gulag."
"It's not that bad, is it?" said Hermione.
Ron groaned. "Final year, Hermione, what do you reckon? It won't be like a holiday."
"If you were more organized, Ron, and perhaps a little more effective, and if you perhaps wouldn't spend so much time playing quidditch-"
"La la la la I'm not listening la la la la", Ron said and put his fingers in his ears.
Hermione sighed. "All I'm saying is that-"
"I wondered when this was coming", Ron cut her off, "I thought she had been way too non-annoying lately."
"Please, guys", Ginny said, "no fighting on our last night of the summer, eh?"
"Stop poking your nose into everything, Ginny", Ron snorted.
"No, she's right", Hermione said, "we shouldn't fight. I'm sorry." Then she looked exactingly at Ron.
"Sorry", he muttered.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I dunno", Ron said, "I reckon he was talking to Sirius but that was like an hour ago." He shrugged.
I rose from my bed, where I had been lying flat on my stomach. "I'll be right back", I said, "I'm just going to the loo."
So I headed out from the room and into the toilet. A couple of minutes later I was finished and on my way back, a sudden feeling made me head over to the room that Harry and Ron was sharing instead, and I bent over to peep through the keyhole.
What am I doing? I thought. I wasn't really sure. Why didn't I just knock? I felt it would have been stupid of me to knock if he wasn't there. And I didn't think he was there. He was probably still talking to his godfather. If he wasn't, he would have come and joined us, wouldn't he?
But I saw a silhouette in there, someone standing over by the window. So I knocked.
"Yeah", Harry said.
I opened the door. "Hey", I said, "we were wondering where you had gone."
"I was just talking to Sirius", he said slowly. "Um… I need to talk to you."
I had a very bad feeling about this. In his voice, it sounded like someone had died, and I knew that this wasn't good news.
I entered and closed the door behind me. "What's happened?" I asked softly.
"Listen, I…" he bit his lip and looked away. "I've been thinking, and talking and… It's back to Hogwarts tomorrow. So people'll know about… us. It'll spread. To the Dark Side. They'll use it against me, trust me Tamara. That's how they work. They take away people who mean much to me. That's how they got me into the Department of Mysteries in the first place; they made me believe they'd got Sirius there." Finally he turned around and looked exactly at me. "So many people have been hurt because of me-"
"It's not your fault, Harry", I said quickly.
"Of course it's my fault", he spat. "If it hadn't been for me, then-"
"Then the Dark Lord would have taken over the world sixteen years ago", I said. "You defeated him then, he's back now but you can't make it your life mission to defeat him again. It's not your responsibility; you can't have the whole world on your shoulders."
"You don't understand!" he exclaimed. "It is my responsibility."
"Why!"
Silence.
"There's something you should know", he said finally. "Um… everything that happened back then, in the Department of Mysteries…" – he paused – "what it was about, it was about this… prophecy."
I frowned. "A prophecy."
"It broke."
"Oh. That's too bad. Then you'll never know what it said-"
"I've heard it."
"You have?"
"Dumbledore keeps a recording of it in his office."
"Oh. So… what did it say then?"
He bit his lip. "Um…"
"What?"
He turned his back on me and mumbled something very fast.
"What did you say?"
He turned around. "The prophecy", he said, "was about Voldemort and me, and basically, it said that in the end, one of us will have to kill the other."
"I…" I stammered, "I… what?"
He sighed and crossed his arms. "Either I'll be the victim or the murderer."
"I… er… um", I kept stammering, "I… wh… I don't know what to say", I said finally.
"I just thought you should know what you've gotten yourself into", he said quietly.
I frowned again. "So who… did the prophecy?"
"Trelawney-"
"Doesn't she always talk a lot of nonsense? I don't take Divination but she's always seemed like a sort of… unreliable source."
"It's not nonsense."
"But-"
"IT'S NOT NONSENSE!" he lashed out.
I stared at him. "Er… okay, I believe you…"
"Sorry", he said quietly. "It's just that…" – he sighed – "I… don't know."
"What don't you know?" I asked quietly.
"What to do."
"About what?"
"About… us. This. Getting too close to you. They'll take you away from me. And if you get hurt because of me-"
"Harry, don't worry about me", I said. "You've got enough to worry about. I can take care of myself-"
"Cedric could take care of himself", Harry said. "My parents could bloody take care of themselves. Sirius could take care of himself. I never said you can't take care of yourself."
"Then what are you trying to say?"
"Just that… I don't know. I don't know much about anything. I- Can you do me a favour? Please do me a favour, Tamara."
"What?"
"Learn Occlumency."
I looked at him. "But, Harry…"
"Snape gave me lessons, he can give you lessons too. I'll talk to Dumbledore, he'll talk to him."
"You want me to learn Occlumency to be able to prevent people from reading my mind."
"Your dad is out of Azkaban. If he collaborates with Voldemort, they'll get into your head. Now, Voldemort doesn't care about you but when he learns that you mean much to me, then… it's in a whole different light. Please, Tamara, learn Occlumency. For your own sake."
"Harry, calm down, please… I'll learn Occlumency. Don't worry", I said and slid my arms over his back.
"Thank you", he breathed.
