Harry was still gazing blankly at the ceiling as the sun's rays entered the boys' dormitories. He hadn't slept a wink since what happened with Clara and as he noticed the sun starting to shine, he discovered that he wasn't going to get any slumber. Harry sighed and continued to stare at the ceiling, trying to sort out his thoughts. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened last night, all he knew was that Clara and him ended up kissing. The kiss was fantastic, Harry had to admit that, but he just couldn't let anything like that happen again. He wouldn't allow this to cause a fight between him and Ron; he didn't want to hurt his best friend.

Then again, he probably made Clara even more upset than she already was by walking out on her. She needed a friend last night and all Harry did was make it worse. He kissed Clara, and then ran away from her, and this was right after she discovered her mother died. He managed to make her mother's death an even more difficult experience then it already was. Harry hated this feeling in his stomach; he hated himself at that moment actually. He felt like he was the world's most horrible person at that instant.

Harry's thoughts were disrupted, to his dismay, when the other boys in the room started to awake. He didn't want to have to face Clara or Ron any time in the future, especially now. Harry wanted to just stare at the ceiling and hate himself forever, but he couldn't. He had to talk to Clara and let her know why he reacted the way he did. Harry didn't want her to beat herself up due to his own senseless behavior.

After a long sigh, Harry found the energy to stumble out of bed and get dressed. He wanted to talk to Clara before Ron awoke. He quickly pulled on some clothes and got ready for the day, before he ventured downstairs.

As Harry tried to stroll down the stairs casually, Ginny spotted him and called him over, "Harry!"

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he reluctantly headed towards Ginny and replied unenthusiastically, "Hi"

Ginny didn't seem fazed, even in the slightest, by Harry's lack of excitement; actually, it seemed as if she didn't even notice. She looked like she had something important to say, but she wasn't talking. Harry couldn't help but feeling curious as he questioned, "Something on your mind Ginny?"

"Did you know that Clara's mother died?" she answered with a tone of concern in her voice.

Before he could think, Harry responded, "Yeah, she told me…" As soon as he did though, he regretted it. Harry didn't want anyone to know that he was downstairs with Clara most of the night. His guilt was enough; he didn't need other people suspecting what happened.

"How did you know? She just found out in the middle of the night," Ginny asked suspiciously.

Harry didn't know what to say, except the truth, "I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs and saw her crying. Clara told me what happened and I tried to comfort her, but she said she needed to be alone." That was mostly the truth, just with a couple of things left out.

Ginny seemed satisfied with this answer as she nodded and said compassionately, "I wonder how she is doing."

"Do you know where she is?" Harry questioned hopefully, but as Ginny shook her head, he made some excuse about having to go to the library to get away. Now he had no idea where to find Clara. If she wasn't in the common room, she might be in the Great Hall, but if your mom just died would you be eager to scarf down some breakfast? Harry decided that it couldn't hurt to look anyway, as he headed down to the Great Hall. While he was walking, he tried to think of what he would say when he found her. First of all, he would definitely apologize for his foolish behavior. Then… he didn't even know where to start. Harry couldn't possibly let Clara know that he wanted to kiss her more than anything, every day of his life. He didn't want her to know how much he really liked her; Harry just wanted her to know that he genuinely cared about her. He also wanted Clara to realize that he couldn't betray Ron, who really liked Clara, and that is why he pulled away.

Harry shook his head as these thoughts were running threw his mind; he was going to do something stupid again and he knew it. Harry knew that he wasn't a "smooth" operator, when it comes to these kinds of things. He was afraid of screwing things up again and making Clara feel horrible. Harry hated being the cause ofher pain, but she had to understand.

As Harry entered the giant Great Hall, there was no sign of Clara anywhere. He even looked around for a few minutes and yet, he saw no sign of her presence. As Harry strode towards the Gryffindor table in defeat, he noticed that Hermoine was already there. She was already eating and looked like she was busy doing something as Harry walked up to where she was sitting.

"Er…Hello Hermoine," Harry said uncomfortably. Ever since Harry and Ron had made friends with Clara, Hermoine had become irritable towards all of them. She always snapped at him and he really wasn't in the mood for her anger. He just wanted to sit with his friend, Hermoine, who used to be someone he could talk to.

"Oh, Hello Harry," she replied, not even looking up. Harry sighed as he obviously realized that he would not be able to talk to her. He wanted so bad to ask Hermoine what to do about this situation, but he knew that she would just yell at him for it. Harry didn't know what her problem was lately; he just knew that it felt like he had lost her as a friend.

As Harry was lost in his train of thought, Hermoine finally looked up at him. He had the saddest expression on his face at that moment. Harry had so much to be sad about in his life, though. Sirius was dead, he betrayed Ron, he was falling for Clara, but could never have her, and he was losing Hermoine as a friend. It seemed to Harry, that things couldn't get any worse. As this thought buzzed in his mind he tried to ignore the fact that he knew it could get worse, much worse. Harry didn't want to think about this as he carelessly plopped down next to Hermoine on the bench and proceeded to stare at the designs on his plate.

"Are you okay Harry?" Hermoine asked gently

"That depends, are you going to snap at me and run off?" Harry inquired. He was hoping that she would have some explanation for her being such a lousy friend over these past weeks. He didn't want to believe that she didn't care enough to be there for him. Harry wanted her as a friend again and he was wishing that she was wanting the same thing.

"Harry, what is that supposed to mean?" Hermoine inquired defensively.

Harry sighed as he discovered that she didn't even realize how much she was hurting him. Hermoine didn't know what Harry was going threw and, until she was going to start being a friend, he didn't want to tell her. "Nevermind" Harry replied while he started to rise from the table. When he was about to start walking away, Hermoine quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"What is going on, Harry?" she said inquisitively. It was a wonder to Harry how she could be his friend for so long and yet not realizeexactly whathad been bothering him.

"You would know if you weren't always runningaway and ignoring me," Harry answered honestly. He knew he wasn't being very nice, but he didn't feel like being a kind person right then.

"I told you that it was because of Clara. She can't be trusted. She is—" Hermoine tried to explain, but before she could,Harry sharply cut her off.

"No, Hermoine, you don't get it. I don't care if I am hanging out with Voldemort himself, you should be a friend to me no matter what. You can't just ditch me if I am friends with someone that you don't like because it is not always about what you want." Harry didn't know what was the matter with him lately. First, he was screaming at his Uncle and now Hermoine. Who was next?

"Harry, I…" Hermoine began before he had to cut in again.

"Hermoine, I am sorry. I've just missed the way we used to be friends; I really need someone to talk to, but I now know that you can't be that 'someone' anymore," It was odd, how at this moment, Harry became completely honest with Hermoine. His entire life, he spent it trying to please other people, but now, he when he needed someone, the only friend he could turn to for help, was too busy with something else. Harry needed to be honest, and then maybe Hermoine would understand how much he needed her to be there for him.

"I can be that person, Harry. I am so sorry; I didn't know that you were having a hard time. Please, you can talk to me." Hermoine said desperately, now discovering that she needed to be a friend.

Harry didn't say anything and continued looking down. He knew that she wanted to be his friend, but how did he know if she was really going to stick with him when Clara was around? He didn't know if she was going to start making excuses to get away from Clara again. If Hermoine did begin to do that once more, it would be like she never really wanted to stay Harry's friend in the first place.

"Harry, I am begging you. Please tell me what is going on. I do want to be your friend." Hermoine pleaded with tears starting to well up in her eyes.

Harry was done being angry at Hermoine, he couldn't help it; he had to tell her everything…