Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of these other characters.
Chapter 2: An Even Greater Surprise
Ron and Hermione were huddled in the corner of the kitchen, talking in low tones as Harry meandered through the kitchen, greeting friends politely.
"Ron what will we do?" Hermione asked apprehensively.
"Do about what?" Ron asked through mouthfuls of chocolate birthday cake.
"You know" She insisted through clenched teeth.
"Know what Hermione? Come on, I have no idea what you're talking-"
"Ron we have got to tell him!"
"Tell him what?" Hermione wanted to continue berating Ron on this very important issue but she saw Harry coming their way and stopped the conversation.
"Hey guys," Harry said with a half smile, "do you think there's something weird going on around here?"
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, a little too quickly and nervously.
"I dunno, it just seems like everyone's, like, in love or something."
"LOVE? Love? No, no way mate, no love" Ron said, choking on a gulp of butterbeer. Hermione stamped on his foot and gave him a lethal warning stare.
"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. It just seems like… oh I don't know…" Harry trailed off in thought.
"Listen Harry," Hermione said timidly, "I think we've got to talk." Ron shot her a fearful glance, but followed her and Harry out of the kitchen and upstairs to his room. Once the trio had settled on his old, sagging mattress, they stared at each other awkwardly. There seemed to be so much to say, to ask but no one knew how to start. Hermione took a deep breath to begin explaining things when Harry cut her off.
"I just wanted to let you guys know, I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've come to terms with everything that happened… you know, back there, in the Department of Mysteries. I still miss Sirius, but I don't want to dwell on it. We're about to start another year of school, and another year of fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We can't just sit around and mourn Sirius, it's the last thing he would have wanted," Harry explained solemnly. It felt good to have that off his chest, out in the open. Ron and Hermione exchanged a serious look.
"All right Harry," Hermione said quietly, "but if you ever want to talk about it, really please come to us." Ron nodded his agreement to this statement. Harry smiled appreciatively at his best friends.
"Hey guys, I'm really tired from all this stuff that happened today. Do you mind if I head to bed?" Harry asked exhaustedly. Of course Hermione and Ron didn't mind and left him alone in the room to get some rest.
When Harry awoke the next morning he had to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming. Behind him the light was streaming through the window, illuminating the moving posters of Quidditch teams on the walls of Ron's room. He reached over for the glasses on the nightstand beside his cot. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and perched them upon his nose, a picture caught his attention. It was a picture of Ron and Hermione. Harry couldn't remember exactly when it was taken, but knew he must have been around somewhere. He tapped the glass of the picture frame gently, calling his photographed self out from the shadows. Instead he just roused the miniature Ron and Hermione. They'd been sleeping, Hermione's head resting on Ron's shoulder. Upon their awake, Ron hugged Hermione tightly and smiled at the camera. Harry's miniature self was nowhere to be seen. Ah well, Harry thought to himself, I must have been taking the picture or something, though he really couldn't remember ever having done so. Looking over towards Ron's side of the room, Harry realized his friend had already awoken and headed downstairs for breakfast. Harry reluctantly followed suit and headed down to the kitchen. However, he paused halfway down the steps.
Sitting at the kitchen table were Ron and Hermione. This was not especially unusual except for their extreme closeness. Their chairs had been scotched as close as possible to each other's. They were reading the Daily Prophet together over breakfast, Hermione's head resting on Ron's shoulder, and Ron's hand tracing circles on Hermione's back. Something was horribly wrong with this picture. As if to confirm Harry's feelings of unease, Ron and Hermione stumbled across something particularly humorous in the paper and while Hermione laughed, Ron leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. All of a sudden Harry felt sick to his stomach. He turned to run the rest of the way up the steps when he ran straight into Ginny.
"Morning Harry," she mumbled sleepily, running a hand through her disheveled mop of red hair.
"What the bloody hell is going on down there?" Harry shouted into the face of a very bewildered Ginny. Knocking her out of the way, he ran up the steps and into the bedroom he shared with his now ex best friend. As he slammed the door shut he also performed a locking spell, though he knew a simple 'alohamora' would do the trick in opening it again.
Ginny, upon realizing what was happening, rushed upstairs and knocked on Harry's door.
"Go away!" He shouted from the other side.
"Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I thought they would have told you" Ginny said through the keyhole. "Please, let me in. I'll explain everything."
"You shouldn't be the one explaining. It should be them. They should have told me. Those no good, lousy gits. They should have told me" Harry shouted back at her.
"Harry please won't you let me in?" She asked quietly. After a moment's hesitation she added, "and if you don't, I'll just 'alohamora' it. Either way I win." A second later the latch clicked and Ginny pushed her way inside. She sat down on Harry's cot and watched as he fumingly paced the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair, obviously frustrated. With a sigh, Ginny patted the bed next to her, hoping Harry would calm down long enough to talk to her. Instead he continued pacing and stomping and muttering under his breath, once or twice he would bring out his wand and grip it so hard and furiously that sparks would shoot from the end. When Ginny got sufficiently worried by the rogue sparks, she gripped Harry by the shoulders and pulled him roughly onto his cot.
"I just don't understand Ginny. When? How? For Merlin's sake, Why?" Harry asked, holding his hand in his head. She was sort of taken aback at Harry's reaction. Though she expected quite a lot of surprise and shock, Harry's was acting downright devastated. Suddenly something dawned on Ginny.
"Harry, you didn't…I mean you weren't hoping…" Harry stared at her quizzically, obviously not catching her drift, "…oh Harry, you didn't like her did you?" She finally spat out.
"Hermione? No way!" Harry exclaimed immediately. "It's just that…I don't understand. I thought we were all friends, all equals. And now there they are, practically snogging over breakfast, and no one even bothered to tell me. I couldn't be more surprised if I'd found out Hermione was dating Malfoy or something. I just don't understand…" He trailed off sadly. It seemed strange to her that after so many years of wanting to date Harry, here she was all alone with him, the shoulder he was nearly crying on. She wished she could somehow comfort him, make him see that this would not be the end of Harry's friendship with Ron and Hermione. However, she really did not know if that was true.
All of a sudden Ron and Hermione burst in. They were still laughing, obviously oblivious to the temper tantrum Harry had been throwing only moments before. Upon seeing the serious expressions on Harry and Ginny's faces, though, they fell silent. In a flash Harry's expression had gone from serious to deadly. He lunged towards them, spewing insults and accusations about torrid love affairs and secret trysts in the deserted corridors of Hogwarts. Ron was obviously confused as to what had come over his best friend, but Hermione immediately knew what was happening. A look at Ginny confirmed Hermione's suspicions.
"Harry," Hermione said tentatively, "Ron and I are dating."