Chapter 23: Sunday

Next morning, Ron went down into the common room and was surprised to see Hermione waiting for him on the foot of the stairs. He was still angry with her about not telling him all she knew about Harry and Ginny. He decided to ignore her, but found it too hard just to pass her by.

"Hey Ron! Please, let me explain… I know I should've told you straight from the beginning that Harry and Ginny were a couple, but they made me promise not to tell anyone. They were so eager to tell you themselves. I know I've made mistakes, but let's be friends, okay?"

Ron looked at her pleading eyes and couldn't help but smile. "It's good, you didn't tell me anything. I appreciate that you kept your promise. And I have thought about everything. It's not that bad that Harry and Ginny are dating each other. I am not angry at all."

Hermione was relieved and together with Ron, she went down to breakfast as usually. As it was Sunday morning, only few pupils were sitting on the house tables. Most of the others were still tired from yestereve's feast.

Hermione and Ron were talking in a strange fashion to each other. Neither would forget about the brief kiss they had shared but still no one would admit that they had feelings for each other. So they kept talking about everything, but they strictly avoided the previous evening.

"Has anyone of you seen Harry this morning?" asked Ginny. She had been looking everywhere for Harry and as she had not found him, she decided to look in the Great Hall, but he was not there either.

Hermione and Ron shook their heads. They had not even noticed Harry's absence and they had not been talking about him.

Ron looked at his sister. "Ginny, I'm sorry about my behaviour. I don't know why I overreacted, but you're my little sister and I just felt like I needed to protect you. Could you please tell Harry that I'm sorry?"

"I'm not going to deliver him messages from you. If you want to apologize, go and talk to him. I disapprove your attitude of our relationship. I mean… it's true, I am your sister, but I am old enough to decide whom I can trust. Harry is my boyfriend and not my enemy. You don't need to protect me anymore, Harry does it now!" she spat coldly and left the Great Hall.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "Soon, it will be fine again. They need to calm down and you need to apologize…" She gently touched his arm. Their eyes met and almost immediately Hermione put her hand away as if she had burnt it.

"That must be really hard for you, to have your boyfriend running after other girls. Oh, I would kill her, if she had dared to touch my boyfriend. And you're still sitting around with her brother!"

An unwelcome female voice which belonged to Cho Chang had interrupted the embarrassing moment between Ron and Hermione.

Hermione looked at her, not knowing what Cho was talking about. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh Hermione… tz tz" sighed Cho. "There's no need to deny the truth. Didn't you know? Harry is not faithful. Every time you're not looking, he hangs out with other girls. Especially that Ginny Weasley."

"Hey! You're talking about my sister. Watch your tongue!"

"So Ron… Do you agree her being with Harry; I heard he's extremely violent. I would fear for my sister!" replied Cho arrogantly.

"You're talking nonsense. Please Cho, leave us alone. Besides, Harry and I we're not an item anymore" said Hermione.

Cho laughed. "If you think so. Well… you're far better off without him."

And with these words, she went back to the Ravenclaw table.

Hermione and Ron exchanged puzzled looks

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

"No idea", replied Hermione and shrugged. "Let's go back."

In meantime, Harry was lying in his bed, thinking about everything that had happened the night before. He still couldn't believe what Snape had told them. Harry reconsidered the confession and wondered whether Snape was really on the "good" side.

Suddenly the door of the boys´ dormitory opened and someone peeked inside. Then Harry saw a red something running at him and before he knew what happened Ginny had her hands around his neck.

"Ginny? What are you doing up here?"

Ginny grinned at him. "Well… I was looking for you in the whole castle. When I didn't find you, I was at Hagrid's, in the grounds and at the Quidditch field. As you were nowhere to be found, I presumed that you had to be in your dormitory. And so I found you. Here I am. I missed you so much."

Harry kissed her. "Oh I am so happy you came up here. By the way, have you seen Ron today?"

"Yes, but I don't want to talk about it now. And I met somebody else. Cho told me I should not interfere into other relationships. Do you know what that means?"

Harry shrugged. "No, and I don't want to think about it now."

Ginny suddenly saw, that Harry had a cut on his lip and nose; he looked really beaten up.
She stroked the bruises.

"Does it hurt? It looks really bad. I don't know what has gotten into Ron."

"Relax Ginny. It's absolutely nothing. Kiss me!"

"Why? Does that comfort you?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh yes, that's the best medicine in the whole world."

He tore her towards him and started kissing her. Ginny slipped under his blanket and kissed him back.

"Mr. Potter… you should not be doing things like that", giggled Ginny.

"Miss Weasley, are you aware that you went into a boy's dorm and you're not even allowed here?" teased Harry.

He started tickling her and Ginny tickled him back. Soon they were exhausted from all their tickling and had difficulties to stop their laughter.

Harry lay back and Ginny cuddled herself next to him. She laid her head on his chest and enjoyed lying next to him.

"Harry? Why didn't you come down to breakfast this morning? I was scared when I didn't find you anywhere. Has anything happened?"

"Yes. The last night, I saw these spiders again. This time I followed them and I found out that-"

Harry did not speak further. Ron was standing in front of them, making a face as if somebody had died.

Ginny climbed out of the blankets and quickly smoothed her clothes. Ron's face had become expressionless.

"Ron it's not what it looks like. We were just talking."

"Talking? Why did you have to be in bed for your talking?"

"Please, you have to believe me. We did nothing bad. Calm down."

"Don't you tell me to calm down", shouted Ron.

Harry who had remained silent until now, wanted to say something, as the door opened.
Hermione had heard Ron's shouting and decided to go and look what had happened. She stood in the doorway and all she could say was a slow "oh my…"

Ron turned to Harry. "I thought you had a bit of responsibility. I never thought that you would try and seduce my sister, under my very nose."

"RON! I have not tried anything like that. First of all, she came to look for me and then we talked about some things, alright? So don't be such a prat and listen to us. Because I have to tell you and Hermione something really important. Let's go down…"

Hermione led the group back to the common room, where Harry explained them everything that had happened the night before. He told him about his worries and about Snape.

At the end, nobody thought about the silly situation in Harry's dorm.

They spend the end of the day discussing about last night's happenings and about what they could do in the fight against Voldemort.

Harry opened his mouth. He really wanted to tell them about the prophecy he had heard in Dumbledore's office some time ago, but as he looked into their already shocked faces, he decided that it was not the right time to give them bad news. He didn't want to trouble their minds with this serious problem.

During dinner, Dumbledore had announced, that they were going to have their first analysis class, next evening at seven o'clock. All the sixth years told excitedly about it.

As they left the Great Hall, Ron told the girls to go ahead, so he could have a word with Harry.

He breathed deeply and began. "Harry I just want you to know that I acted like a real idiot. I didn't want to punch you yesterday and I am so sorry. Now I see that you really care about my sister and I hope that you are going to be nice to her. I don't want to loose anyone of you. Please don't hurt her and protect her if you can."

Harry grinned and hugged his friend. He was so glad that Ron accepted their relationship. Together they went back to the common room. Ginny was waiting for Harry. Ron climbed up the stairs and winked at Harry.

Ginny looked between them and frowned. "What did he tell you?"

"He accepts our relationship and hopes the best for us", he replied, embracing her.

They kissed and then each of them went to bed...