Disclaimer: You know the deal...

Lock and Key

Chapter 4

About four weeks had passed in time, with all of it going by in a mad dash. The professors showed no mercy whatsoever to the seventh years when it came to work, and if that wasn't enough to keep them busy for weeks (which it definitely was), extra activities were added on top of that. Hermione had the austere job of Head Girl and Harry had his Quidditch team to fret over. The Gryffindor team had been faithfully practicing four days a week. Harry, who thought his team might think it a bit much, explained that no team could get enough practice. He just wanted to ensure they won the Quidditch Cup six years in a row.

"Harry, it's fine, four days are fine!" Ginny had retorted, smiling.

"Yeah, besides, we haven't lost the Cup since you've been on the team!" Ron had added proudly.

On another matter pertaining to Quidditch, Hermione had kept up her budding friendship with David Rice much to Ron's horror. They had been seeing quite a lot of each other. Harry, however, could not dump on Hermione too badly, for he himself had been spending more time with Parvati Patil (which perturbed Hermione with each passing day). He was discovering that she was extremely cool and not nearly as airy as he had once thought her. Ron had asked Harry, smirking at the time, if he was going out with her. Harry, totally taken aback, answered no a tad more forcefully than he had intended. Ron nodded skeptically then told his best friend about one of Padma's friends, Rebecca Mesh, who had caught his eye. Harry had happily noted Ron hadn't mentioned Hermione and might be moving past her.

Harry and Ron walked out of the common room discussing, what else?, Quidditch. They were headed to the kitchens. True, dinner had been a little over an hour ago but they wanted to see Dobby... and what other desserts they could snag.

"It's weird," Harry started, "We've seen every other House practicing but Slytherin. We haven't caught one glimpse of them."

"I know! Do they even have a team this year?!," Ron replied. Harry gave a small smile, "Do you know who their captain is?"

"No idea."

"Well, it's not like it matters. They're still going to be awful," shrugged Ron. Harry laughed. The first game of the season was on Friday, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. They hadn't gotten too far before Ginny came up from behind.

"Hey Ron, Harry," she greeted, her bag on her shoulder.

"Hey Gin," responded Ron.

"Hi," said Harry.

"Where are you two off to?" she asked, her full red hair in a ponytail.

"Uh... the, er—" her brother stammered.

"Hagrid's." Harry told her. Ginny looked at them wryly, almost annoyingly.

"The kitchens." Ron answered, defeated.

"Ah," she observed.

"And you?" She didn't get to answer because at that moment Parvati came swooping down on them.

"Ron! We have to work on our Divination project!," she declared, stopping him, "We've hardly done a thing!"

"Now?!" he exclaimed, disgusted at the thought of Divination over food.

"Yes, now! You are helping me do it!" Parvati announced. He looked hopelessly at the other two then relented. Harry waved at Parvati before she departed with his disgruntled friend. She smiled in return.

"So...," Ginny began as they continued walking, "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Harry questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"You know... is anything happening between you and Parvati?" she inquired with a sly smile. He silently growled. What was it with these Weasleys and the Parvati theory?!

"Nothing," he shortly replied.

"Are you sure?" Yes he was sure! All right, yes, she was quite attractive and had a nice personality, but he had no feelings for her!

"Yes. We're only friends Ginny." Harry reported.

"Oh. It's just... you spend a noticeable amount of time with her, and she's one of the prettiest girls at Hogwarts..." Ginny told him.

"So?! I spend time with you, and with Hermione! And you're both pretty!" Well, that wasn't exactly true. Hermione's beautiful, he unexpectedly thought. Ginny's face flushed and she struggled with her bag.

"Sorry, I was just... curious," she mumbled, "Look Harry, I've got to get to the library. That's where I was going... before. See you!" Ginny hardly met his eyes and hurried off. He watched her go, perplexed. Had he offended her? Harry had no clue that he had pleased & embarrassed her by calling her pretty, or that Ginny was extremely upset with herself because she knew a part of her was still taken with Harry.

He stood there for a moment, not sure of where to go anymore. A pleasant thought then came to him—Hermione. He knew that she wasn't in the Tower, but wasn't sure where she was either. Harry thought he'd first try the Head Room then might have to resort to the Marauder's Map. When he reached the portrait, he realized he didn't know the password. (She said it all the time—he had to start paying attention)! Stuck, he simply knocked loudly, unsure if this plan would work. Disappointment and rage filled Harry when Draco Malfoy appeared on the other side.

"What the hell are you doing here Potter?" he demanded, alarm and anger washing over his own face.

"Is Hermione in there?" he gruffly asked.

"Ah, looking for your little girlfriend," Malfoy smirked, "It doesn't matter if she is or not. You're not a Head and this is the Head Room. Thus, you're not coming in. Now leave before Gryffindor loses 30 points." Harry balled his fists, wanting desperately to throw one at the blonde boy's face. Instead he shouted Hermione's name, shocking Malfoy. An instant later, she stood at the entrance.

"Harry! I thought someone was here..." she said. Noticing the looks the two boys were giving one another, Hermione stepped out and guided Harry away.

"Filth," they heard the Slytherin grumble, before having the portrait slam shut.

"How can you stay in there with him?" Harry wondered.

"I'm usually not; that was one of that rare occasions. Besides, I was upstairs," she informed. A smile then crept onto her face, "So what's up?"

"Just wanted company, I guess. Ron's working on a project for Divination and I've already finished the Quidditch tactics for Friday."

"What about your homework?" He cleared his throat and hastily looked away. She rolled her eyes, amused. Harry and Ron would never change.

"Don't think I'm falling behind or anything. I plan to spend most of tomorrow doing it. The last thing I need is Head Girl Hermione on my case—regular Hermione is bad enough." Harry explained, grinning.

"Watch it Potter." Hermione smiled. They were walking closely and his arm brushed against hers. An electric wave shot through his arm that pleased him.

"Where are we going?" she inquired.

"I dunno. How about... Hagrid's?" he answered, thinking about his earlier answer to Ginny's question. Or an empty classroom where I can snog the lights out of you, he thought. Harry angrily closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. That was the arm talking. What was he thinking?! He didn't think like that!

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked, observing his face. He quickly got over himself, offering up a rather sloppy smile.

"Nothing," he remarked. She nodded, mentally noting how charming his smile was.

"All right, let's see Hagrid. You two can speak incessantly about Friday's game."

"You're coming right?"

"Of course!," Hermione assured, "Have I ever missed a game in which you were playing?"

"No." Harry quietly responded, grinning shamefully.

"Well there you go." As they walked out onto the grounds, Hermione voiced her hope of Ron remembering he had rounds later. (It wouldn't be his first time forgetting). Harry merely took in how soothing her voice was.

Harry and Ron walked down from their dormitory the next morning discussing their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"I mean, she's a good professor but a terrible conversationalist. She hardly talks to us, unless it's about the course!" Ron adamantly insisted.

"What do you expect? A repeat of third year and Lupin? Ron, we don't befriend every professor." Harry replied.

"No, but it wouldn't hurt her to smile, just once."

"Well, I like Higgins." Ron was about to retort, "You would; she's as depressed as you were" but instantly realized how cruel and low that was. Furthermore, he was certain their friendship would have ended right then and there.

"Oh yeah—Hogsmeade trip next weekend," Ron pointed out, motioning to the bulletin board. The prefects knew about the trips one before they actually took place and the Heads knew about all of them, "Plan to ask anyone?" Harry snorted and said:

"No. You?"

"Yep! Rebecca Mesh. Back to you though... are you going to ask Parvati?" (They walked out of the common room). Harry shot Ron a lethal glare that was intended to shut him up: it did. No, he wasn't going to ask Parvati out! If anything Harry felt compelled to ask Hermione, but knew it would be painfully imprudent to do so. They walked into the Great Hall and sat down, beginning to eat.

"Morning." Hermione greeted.

"Morning Mione, love," said Ron, stuffing a whole piece of toast in his mouth. She looked at him blankly.

"Don't call me Mione," she flatly ordered. Harry laughed and Ron wiggled his eyebrows. The owl post came as Harry was speaking to Sarah Clayborn, a fifth year Chaser. An owl dropped the Daily Prophet in front of Hermione and another had a letter for Ron.

"Who's it from?" Harry asked.

"Percy," snorted Ron as Hermione flipped past the front page. Percy Weasley had decided to seek out his family's exoneration that summer. While Molly had been overjoyed, most of the other Weasleys had not been so forgiving. Arthur and the twins were on the same page: every time they saw him they had a terrible desire to jinx him. Ron had mixed feelings about the whole affair. He rapidly skimmed the letter before handing it off to Ginny.

"Just talks about how life's going and his job," (Percy worked for the Wizengamot and it was apparently of the utmost secrecy), "Trying to win me over basically. What I wanted was my reply from Charlie." Ron told Harry disinterestedly. Hermione then suddenly gasped. The boys looked at her. She had gone pale.

"What's wrong?" Harry demanded.

"The paper... um, V-Voldemort—"she stumbled. Harry quickly snatched the paper at the mention of that name. No page turning was required because there on the front page was, "Attack on the Ministry" with a picture of the Ministry of Magic's main hall. According to the article, which Harry had torn through so quickly he was positive he missed about half of it, a very influential member of the Wizengamot had been murdered, along with his family. The Dark Mark had been found hovering over their house. Allegedly, the official, Nate Norkin, had been uncooperative with Voldemort, or simply in his way. A smaller article revealed a group of Muggles had been killed by Death Eaters near London.

Harry pushed the paper back towards Hermione, slowly. Around them, students were muttering loudly & speaking to one another, running from table to table with a paper in hand; everyone was discussing it.

"It's just... I can't... all of this is happening again." Hermione sorrowfully said. Ron looked a little on the sick side.

"I have to owl my parents and Percy, see if he's all right," he announced. Harry suddenly stood up.

"I'm going to class," he tonelessly told them. He grabbed his bag and walked off. Hermione sighed and looked fearfully at Ron.

"I hope he's okay," he mumbled, knowing the outcome if he wasn't: Harry would pull away for God knew how long.

He was totally silent in class and when his classes were through, he stayed away from Ron & Hermione. Harry knew they wanted to talk to him (he could tell by the way Hermione was looking at him in Charms), and did an excellent job of avoiding them. He decided to take refuge in the Room of Requirement, deeming Gryffindor Tower unsafe. As he sat on a sofa staring at his blank Transfiguration essay, Harry thought about Voldemort. He somehow felt responsible for the deaths of the Norkins and Muggles, or anyone else Voldemort had recently tormented. Sense told him he was being stupid but he couldn't listen to it. No matter what, he still felt it was his fault Voldemort had returned and knew it was solely up to him to stop the Dark Lord (or be stopped). However, he felt no closer to achieving this in any respect and had no idea how to do so. Harry also felt as if the time was drawing near and that truly frightened him.

He had still yet to tell his best friends about the prophecy. It seemed impossible to do and he was terrified. He feared their reactions, and if Hermione—oh God, Hermione.... Harry put his head in his hands. About a minute later the door quietly opened and someone walked cautiously inside. Hermione bit her lip when she saw Harry with his head down. She wanted desperately to comfort him like she had done in the past, but more so. She wanted to kiss away his pain as well.

"Harry?" she started. He quickly looked up, surprised to see her. How in Merlin's name had she found him? He dismissed that thought, remembering she was the smartest witch in school.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to see you." Hermione replied, walking closer.

"Why?"

"Because I haven't seen you all day. It's six o'clock you know. Harry, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I've... just been doing homework, is all. I told you I was going to catch up on it today." Harry told her.

"Well... it just seems like you've been avoiding Ron and me," she tentatively remarked.

"I haven't," he bluntly said. She winced a little.

"Harry, please—if anything is wrong just tell me." He sighed. He couldn't fault Hermione for worrying. She didn't want a duplicate of sixth year, he reasoned.

"Really Hermione, I'm fine. Or, I will be. I just need to be alone." Harry explained. She nodded, stepping back to the door.

"I understand. If you do want to talk, I'm here Harry—you know that."

"I know," he murmured, giving the faintest smile. Hermione then left the room, giving Harry his wish. Of course he had Hermione, there was always Hermione....

A/N: Fourth chapter down! I'll post again on Wednesday. This fic is probably going to be much longer than I anticipated. Also, more Voldemort/dark magic events will occur. Well, til next time!