Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters

When Harry awoke the next day, he felt incredibly better. After finally speaking to Clara again, and knowing that she missed him too, it made Harry feel happy again. Since Harry was so happy, he didn't have to sit in bed for hours and just think about things, he simply just hopped out of bed and got dressed, just like he used to do.

Harry was the first boy awake, which was no surprise, so he got dressed as quickly and quietly as possible before creeping down to the common room. He was planning on having an early breakfast and then going to practice Quidditch before the big game that was in two weeks.

As he strolled down the stairs, he noticed that Hermoine was in a chair by the fireplace, looking somewhat depressed. She was looking down at her hands and her eyes looked glazed over, as if she was off in another world. Harry would be a horrible friend to ignore Hermoine's sadness, so instead of his early breakfast, Harry sat down next to her.

"Err…Hermoine?" asked Harry warily, after a few moments of silence between them. Harry wasn't even sure if Hermoine noticed that he was next to her.

"Clara's upstairs, Harry," Hermoine said out of the blue. She still had that glazed over look to her eyes and never lost eye contact with her hands. She looked more angry than sad now, but Harry was clueless as to what was bothering her.

"Well, that's good for Clara, Hermoine, but I am not asking about her…are you okay?" Harry was still just baffled at Hermoine's statement about Clara and failed to see any relevance with what he had said. That didn't matter now though, because at least Hermoine was talking, instead of silently staring.

Finally, Hermoine broke out of her daze and stopped brutally staring at her hands as she snapped, "Do you realize that when Clara came back, that we totally forgot to visit Hagrid?"

The problem was, Harry hadn't realized this; in fact, if Hermoine hadn't mentioned his careless forgetfulness, he would have never remembered. Harry was simply shocked at his own behavior and hated that Hermoine was right. He had totally forgotten about Hagrid because of Clara. Of course, Harry hadn't meant to forget, but nevertheless, he did. "Hermoine…none of us meant to. We'll just—we'll visit him today."

"Ron and you both drop everything for Clara, but then abandon your old friends when they need you. It isn't right, Harry, we've stood by you for so much longer than she has and yet you act like she is better," Hermoine's words cut like a knife into Harry's heart. He didn't want her to be right, but he knew that she was. Ever since Clara came along, Harry had been constantly thinking about her and wanting to be around her. He hadn't meant to neglect his old friends, but he knew that is what he was doing.

"Hermoine, I am sorry…I had no idea that I was doing that. I just—it's a stressful situation," Harry didn't know how else to tell her that he couldn't help but think about Clara day and night. He didn't know what else to say besides the fact that he wished he didn't love Clara so much. If Harry didn't care about Clara the way that he did, than there wouldn't be such a problem. The thing was though, that as much as Harry tried, he could not stop loving Clara.

"Yeah, it is only a stressful situation because you are making it that way…" Hermoine mumbled this under her breath, expecting Harry not to hear it. But Harry did hear her, and he was infuriated and hurt at the same time.

"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Harry inquired defensively.

"It means that if you hadn't of kissed Clara that you wouldn't be falling head over heels for her. If you hadn't of betrayed your friend Ron, you would be able to concentrate for one second on your friends that have been there for you since the beginning," It was right then that Harry realized something more was wrong with Hermoine. It wasn't just the fact that Clara got all the attention; it was something else.

Harry couldn't think about Hermoine's ulterior motive for attacking him though, he was too dam pissed off. "I didn't kiss her Hermoine, she kissed me. It is not my fault that Ron and I both like the same girl, but of course I blame myself for it anyway because of people like you saying that everything is my fault. I said I was sorry for being a lousy friend over the past months, but you insist on making this a big deal. WHAT THE HELL ELSE IS YOUR PROBLEM HERMOINE?"

Harry realized at that second, that he was yelling. He cursed to himself and hoped to god that nobody heard him, especially Ron. Luckily, no one did, it was still incredibly early and everyone was still sleeping heavily.

Hermoine wasn't looking at Harry; she was looking away, like she couldn't make eye contact. He didn't know what was wrong with her, but he knew it had to be pretty big if she was acting this way. Hermoine wouldn't normally be like this, she only started to act this way since Clara got here, there must be a bigger problem and Harry wanted to help her with it.

He saw that she looked like she might cry and Harry felt a pang of guilt for causing those tears, "Hermoine, I am sorry…I didn't mean it."

Hermoine shook her head for a moment before repling to Harry, "No, it's not your fault…" she paused as she wiped away a single tear, "You—You are right, I do have another problem."

Harry waited patiently for Hermoine to tell him what it was. He knew the problem must bedifficult and that he shouldn't rush her, since it evidently appeared as if it was a hardthing to tell him. She took only a couple minutes before she regained enough composure to say, "I think I'm in—"

At that moment Ron and Seamus came down the stairs leading from the boys' dormitories, laughing together. Hermoine couldn't tell him in anything while in front of other people, so she would just have to wait until she had another moment alone with Harry.

"Ugh, do we really have to go to potions!" Clara whined, while heading down with Ron, Harry, and Hermoine to the dungeons. She had grown to hate that class just as much as Harry had.

"Unfortunately, yes," sighed Harry while flashing her a small smile.

She wrinkled her nose cutely and replied, "Professor Snape always looks at me weird and he pauses every time he says my name." Clara gave a small laugh and then added, "He's not very nice either!" Ron shook his head stupidly at Clara while giving her the weirdest smile Harry had every seen; he had never witnessed Ron so smitten with someone.

"Not everyone is always looking at you…" Hermoine mumbled, not wanting anyone to hear. All of them did hear, however, and both Harry and Ron were appalled that she would say that to Clara's face. Ron just glared at Hermoine open-mouthed while Harry looked at Clara to see if she had heard. Claratried to act like she hadn't noticed the comment, but she did, and Harry knew it becauseshe was going slightly pink from embarrassment.

"Hermoine!" Ron shouted exasperatedly

Hermoine shifted her books uncomfortably and tried to act as if she hadn't said anything. No one was buying it, and she seemed to give up this act within a few minutes. She was about to say something before the door to the potions room came into sight and she sped forth quickly and yelled, "Oh, look, were here!" Hermoine scurried into the room guiltily as Harry, Ron, and Clara stared after her.

"Don't worry about her, she's just mentally ill," said Ron who seemed annoyed by Hermoine's rude and hurtful behavior.

Harry remembered the talk that he had had with Hermoine that morning and wondered what she would have told him if Ron and Seamus hadn't of interrupted their conversation. He had a feeling that Hermoine's little outburst had something to do with that talk, so he defended, "She is not mentally ill Ron…she's kinda mad at us.And Clara, don't worry about it; she just said that because she is angry at me and Ron"

"Mad? How could Hermoine be mad at us? We didn't do anything!" Ron questioned curiously. Harry didn't want to explain in front of Clara what Hermoine had said earlier that morning. It would hurt her feelings to know that Hermoine thought she wastrying to makeHarry and Ron forget about their old friends.

So Harry just said quietly, "Ron, the bell is going to ring soon. We'll talk about it later," He looked to see if Clara noticed his small signal to Ron, but she didn't act as if she knew.

Clara didn't say anything as she strolled into the cold dungeon room, but she didn't seem sad or angry. Harry took this as a good sign as Ron and him followed her in. From previous seating arrangements, Clara was assigned to sit next to Hermoine. Hermoine, however, had her arms crossed and wouldn't even look at Clara; so as retaliation, Clara turned the opposite way of Hermoine and joked extremely loudly with Ron until class started.

As Snape glided into class with that slick smile spread across his face, Harry noticed his eyes flicker towards Clara for an instant. Harry knew that Clara wasn't imagining the fact that Snape continuously looked at her; it was definitely true. "Oh, I see Miss Dellmont has finally graced us with her presencs, after, what was it, 6 weeks?" Snape spat while sneering at her.

"It was 5 weeks, and you know that I had to leave," Clara said almost as if it was a question. She seemed like she was trying so hard to not say something stupid to him, and Harry knew how hard that was.

"I do not care why you were not present in class, Miss Dellmont. I am only interested to know if you have completed any of your homework?" Snape grinned at her, knowing that she hadn't even touched her homework in that time.

"Dumbledore told me that I wouldn't have to do homework while I was gone," Clara sheepishly added. She obviously didn't want to flat out tell him that she couldn't complete her homework because she was busy bawling over her dead mother. No one would want to explain that in front of the whole class. Harry felt bad for Clara, and was starting to get mad at Snape's unusually ruthless behavior.

"He would have notified me if he had, Miss Dellmont, but nice try," Snape said while smiling coyly.

Harry didn't want to have to sit there and watch Snape make Clara feel uncomfortable about her mother's death any longer. It wasn't fair to Clara and it was an asshole thing for Snape to say, so Harry had to stand up for her, "Professor, you don't know—"

"Stay out of this, Potter!" Snape snarled at Harry, while never losing eye contact with Clara.

"You couldn't have expected me to do homework while I was gone!" Clara said, losing a little of her temper. She was not enjoying Snape's infamous questioning and who would, especially if he is trying to punish you for something so ridiculous. "You obviously have no idea, Professor, of why I was gone"

"No I don't, Miss Dellmont; please, enlighten us," Snape answered with a grin on his face. That bastard was enjoying this way too much and it was disgusting.

"I wasn't here because I had to fly to America," Clara said quietly. It took her a moment to finally express, "Because—'cause, my mother died."

Snape turned even whiter than he was before and he swallowed hard. Harry didn't know why Clara's mom dying would have this effect on Snape. Maybe he felt guilty, Harry thought, but after a moment, realized this was simply preposterous. He laughed at little, knowing that someone like Professor Snape never felt guilty for any rotten thing he did. For some reason though, Harry couldn't help but think that dear Snape knew more about Clara's mother than he was letting on.

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