Hey guys. Sorry that this chapter took so long, but real life beckoned. Now that I'm back though I've found some brilliant inspiration and have some plans! Anyway, I'm still happy to get fanfiction recommendations. Please remember to review, thanks!

Chapter Six: Eavesdropping

Ron whistled as he walked down the hallway leading to his rooms. The day had been lovely, warm and sunny, so he had taken Draco Malfoy up on his offer of one on one quidditch. They had played hours of the game. Ron finally claimed victory after scoring one last goal, breaking their tie.

Of course if Ron's owl had insisted on delivering a letter to HIM in the middle of the last play he probably wouldn't have won either.

Ron was feeling accomplished in a way that can only be achieved with hours of strenuous work and a close game. His high spirits plummeted towards earth however when he turned the last corner and saw who was waiting at his door.

"Ron!" Harry said joyously. "I was just about to go in search of you!"

Ron couldn't think of anything to say, and since the only thing going through his head at that moment was 'God, Hermione will be here in an hour. I hope that she's not still in the violent anger stage.' He decided to just keep his mouth shut.

"Eww, looks like you had quite the work out." Harry said, stopping short of Ron and putting his arms down instead of giving the previously intended hug.

"Yeah. I was out flying." Moving past Harry he uttered the password to his door. "Well, I should really go and shower…"

"That's fine." Harry shrugged carelessly and pushed past Ron into his rooms without being invited. "You go do that and we'll talk when you're done."

Ron watched as Harry dropped himself into one of the chairs scattered in front of the fire and picked up a book from the coffee table. He considered asking him to leave, but decided it was more trouble then it was worth and he'd just have to hurry and get him to leave before Hermione met him for dinner.

While Ron took what had to be the world's fastest shower Harry wandered his living space and freely looked through all his things. In fact when Ron returned to the front room he saw the kitchen door ajar and found Harry poking through his cupboards.

"Looking for something?" Ron asked, attempting to maintain a neutral tone.

"Yeah, I was looking for your tea." Another cupboard opened and the contents were unceremoniously pushed aside. "I can't find anything in this bloody place!"

Ron calmly walked to the stove and put on the water and retrieved his tea from a small jar to the side of the stove. "I actually have plans soon Harry, why don't we reschedule this."

"I won't be long. I really just wanted to know if you could tell me about Hermy. I mean is she still acting like an overemotional teenager?"

Ron bit his tongue and counted to five. 'One…'

"When she left she was still making a real big deal out of what happened. ('two…') I mean she didn't even let me explain my side! ('three…') She was blowing it all out of proportion. ('four…') I just hope she's ready to talk to me like we had an ADULT relationship, I mean she was acting like Lavender in third year! ('five…')"

Ron turned toward the screaming kettle and took a few deep breaths before handing Harry a cup. "Umm, you know Harry I really don't think it would be a good idea for you to talk to Hermione."

Harry gave him a skeptical look. "Please Ron, she can't still be THAT angry. Plus she's got to be bored out of her mind. You have your own life, off playing quidditch and all that, so she can't be with you all that much. Who else is there for her to talk to?"

"Trust me she keeps herself busy, she's taken on a whole project already… she's helping Snape out actually. Regardless, I really don't think she wants to talk to you…"

Harry cut him off. "Snape! You think she'd rather spend time with the overgrown bat of the dungeons than with me! Even if she would, I'm sure that he'd be glad to be rid of her. He never liked her and he's practically allergic to human contact!" He took heaved a sigh of frustration. "God, I make one mistake and she runs off to the first straight man she can find. She can't forgive me but she'll hide out behind the death-eater!"

Ron had forgotten while Harry was digging himself a deeper and deeper hole to watch the time. Had he kept an eye on his watch he would have noticed that it was five minutes past the planned time when Hermione would come to his rooms.

He'd gathered his courage and trekked down to the dungeons himself yesterday. He had watched Hermione and Severus work for awhile and when they couldn't stand his seemingly unblinking stare any longer they all sat down for tea. Ron had mentioned that he hadn't seen either of them out of the dungeons except for a few meals for ages… about seven times. Finally Hermione snapped at him to stop beating around the bush and get to the point. He decided that a dinner would make up for it. Surprisingly Severus had sided with him. The two men insisted that Hermione join Ron for a night out of the castle, Severus had even guaranteed that he would make sure she made it up to Ron's rooms.

Had he been paying attention to his watch he would have realized that Hermione would be there any second. It would have occurred to him that she knew his password and would undoubtedly let herself in. It would have become his mission to get Harry out of harms way. (For Harry's benefit or his own wasn't quite clear.)

Ron wasn't paying attention to his watch however. So when his door opened he wasn't looking for it. That's how Hermione, still arm in arm with Severus, heard most of Harry's speech.

Severus was quite used to the insults that were directed at him. In fact his was a personality that allowed him to be humored by the majority of it. He was fairly positive however, that Hermione hadn't experienced as many things said about her. If the grip she had on his forearm was any indication she was not happy.

Hermione was very angry. She hadn't expected to see Harry again so soon, and she never expected him to be so very stupid. (Although in retrospect she suspected that was mainly her fault.) She knew that Severus would know she was fuming as she couldn't seem to loosen her grip on his arm, but she found that she didn't really care.

Walking further into the room, dragging Severus with her, Hermione shut the door firmly.

Everyone stood in a tense silence. Ron was shifting nervously from one foot to the other looking to Severus every so often for help. Harry was glaring at the pair, looking at their close stance dubiously. Severus found that he was rather enjoying Potter's look of jealousy, but hoped that Hermione wouldn't be sent back into her previous depression. He had, after all, gotten used to, if not fond of her presence.

It was Hermione with a surprisingly calm voice that broke the silence. "Sorry I'm late. We were," she left an evident pause "busy." She looked to Harry and saw that he was practically purple with his fury. "Sometimes I just can't seem to tear myself away…" she ended looking wistful for a moment.

Ron quickly clarified trying to keep everyone from becoming Azkaban's newest resident. "Hermione and Severus have been working on some complicated potion." He laughed a short, forced laugh. "Between the two of us we might be able to recognize the ingredients but we would be left in the dust with those two…" He cleared his throat nervously. "Um, Herm, why don't we just do this another night?"

Harry broke out of his silence. "Yes, it seems that you're…" he left the pause mockingly "busy already. Besides, I think Ron and I were discussing something."

Hermione determinedly ignored Harry's presence. "If you're sure Ron… I really don't want to leave you out of my life, we'll have to reschedule soon."

Ron nodded and gave her a small smile. "We will, but I really do think that another night would be better."

Hermione returned his smile with a reassuring one of her own. "I can't wait." Her face contorted to one of snide acknowledgement as she looked at Harry. "I really hope that you don't plan on making many more appearances around here. If you do, I think that I should inform you that I will be extremely busy and don't wish to talk. Ron had nothing to do with this whole mess, so don't take out your frustration on him."

Harry sneered back. "I could hardly take out my anger on Ron, it's not his fault you're so irrational." His eyes darted to Severus. "And it's certainly not his fault that you've chosen to use dear Professor Snape here to make me jealous."

Hermione's hand tightened some more.

"I'm sorry you think that. But diluted thinking like that does reinforce my need for some form of intelligent conversation." She smiled warmly up at Severus. "It just so happens that he's able to help there." She looked back at Ron "I think I'll hike down to the kitchens then. I'll have a quick dinner and I'll head to my room. If you need to talk later you're more than welcome."

"I'll see you soon." Ron answered.

Severus had listened quietly the whole time. He recognized the need for his silence, but while he watched the look of utter contempt on Potter's face when he looked at Hermione clutching his arm he felt that it would be impossible to resist provoking him more.

"Actually Hermione." He said as they walked towards the door. "I would be honored if you'd let me take you out to dinner. We just never seem to have enough time for everything we want to do."

Hermione turned to smile at him (and to catch Harry's expression) as she answered "I'd love that Severus, lets just stop by my rooms quickly so I can freshen up."

Harry watched them leave with a sour expression. "She won't be able to stand him much longer, I'll just have to pay her a visit soon."

Ron suppressed the sudden feeling of dread that came up, after all it couldn't get to much worse…