Chapter 3

For the next two days, Harry and Hermione studied their plant. Sitting in the muggy greenhouse for hours at a time, taking notes and poking it with the ends of their quills, trying to get it to react.
"I think it's dead," said Harry, one Friday evening."It's not dead, Harry," Hermione sighed, "It's in hibernation. And stop poking it!"
They had, to Harry's great reluctance, skipped supper that night and both their nerves were wearing thin.
"Well it's hard to study something that doesn't move." Harry replied, casting down his parchment and quill and standing up.
"Where are you going?" Hermione stood up too, drawing herself up to her full height, which was still a good few inches shorter than Harry.
He skirted around her, "We need to eat something, Hermione," He appealed to her hunger, "if we want to make it back to the tower without passing out."
She folded and they put away the cabbage and went back to the castle.

When they entered the Great Hall, it was empty, save for a few students that could pack away more than they probably should. They sat down at the farthest corner of the Gryffindor table and watched as two warm plates of food appeared.Harry didn't even glance at it before shovelling a large amount of food into his mouth. Contented with this new arrangement of less people and more food, he relaxed immensely and brought out that morning's issue of The Prophet.
He glanced at the front page headline. "SEVEN WITCHES AND WIZARDS TO GO ON GRINGOTTS EXPEDITION TO EGYPT NEXT WEEK." Without even looking at the picture, he flipped open the paper and began to vaguely read an article about 'How to Get Your Broom to Find the Snitch For You' on page two.
Hermione glanced up at the front page, "That sounds interesting."
Harry shrugged and continued reading, but she snatched the paper away, taking off the front page and giving the rest back. Harry threw her a ruffled glance and tried to find his place. Before he could, Hermione gasped and pulled the paper away again, shoving the front page at him. "Harry, look at the picture!"He only got a quick glance at the centre of the photo before Hermione pulled it away. Three very familiar people were standing there. One wizard with bright red hair and numerous scars, a witch with silvery blonde hair, and, standing beside them, a much younger witch with long black hair, who was waving shyly at him. It's Cho...
"I never thought she'd get a job like that," Hermione said, impressed. "A Grintgotts curse-breaker! Look, even Bill and Fleur are there." She said Fleur's name with a slight air of derision.
Cho is a Gringotts curse-breaker. Cho is going to Egypt. Cho is going to break curses in Egypt for Gringotts. No matter how he phrased it, Harry couldn't believe any of it. "She's going to Egypt. With Bill and Fleur. To Egypt."
"Oh, Harry." Hermione sighed, "Please don't make a scene, we're in the middle of the Great... Hall..." They looked around. It was completely empty except for the two of them. "Well, okay, so the Hall is empty, but you knew that she wasn't going to stay in Britain forever." Hermione stood up, cleared away the pages of The Prophet that were now halfway across the table with her wand, and was about to make an attempt to get Harry away from the table, when he stood up as well.
Staring at an empty spot at the Ravenclaw table, he spoke, calmly, "You're right. She's finished with school, she can do what she wants."
Hermione took one tentative step toward Harry, "Should we go back to the common room now?"
Harry nodded, and they left the Great Hall.

When they arrived back at the common room, Ron wasn't there.
"He must've gone to bed already," Hermione said, glancing at the clock on the mantle above the fire, "It is almost eleven-thirty.""Yea," Harry said quietly, "It's just that... when she was here, I could never find her. Now that she's gone, I cant seem to get away from her."
Hermione looked like she didn't really know what to say to this. She was sort of shifting uncomfortably on the couch, so Harry said, "I think I'm going to go to bed too."
Hermione nodded, "You'll be fine, Harry. Just get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning."
Harry seriously doubted that, but he agreed nonetheless, said goodnight to Hermione, and went up to bed.
Ron was indeed asleep when he entered the 7th year dormitory. Seamus, Dean and Neville's beds were all empty, to Harry's relief. He felt it easier to dwell on his problems with less snoring present.

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Come Monday morning, Harry had managed to work up a convincing facade to hide his distress. Hermione was quite pleased 'how he was taking it', and Ron was... well, Ron wasn't any more or less perturbed than usual.

"How far have you two got on your Herbology project?" He asked over breakfast.
"We didn't really do much over the weekend," Hermione said, cautiously glancing at Harry, "Harry wasn't --"
"I wasn't able to find my textbook all weekend." he said, stepping firmly on Hermione's foot under the table. "Still haven't found it, in fact."
"Isn't that it in your bag?" Ron said, pointing at a mossy green book sitting nicely between his black potions book and a thick stack of parchment.
"Er...Yea, I guess it is. Heh heh... Ahem" Harry laughed a little, nervously.
Ron raised his eyebrows in a mixed expression of disbelief and amusement.
Harry shrugged, and Ron shook his head, turning back to his plate.
Harry elbowed Hermione and glared at her out of the corner of his eye, only to see that she was giggling quietly beside him, one hand covering her mouth, the other trying to find her napkin to dry her eyes.
"What's the matter with you?" Ron said, and they both jumped, making Hermione's laugh turn to small hiccups.
Hermione grabbed her wand and, turning her pumpkin juice to water, started to gulp it down in large quantities in hopes of smothering the hiccups.
Ron turned to Harry, "She's mad I tell you!"
Harry smiled genuinely for the first time in ages, helping himself to a large stack of pancakes, and watching Hermione spill water on her copy of The Daily Prophet.

pRoNgS-78: Alright, so Chapter 3 wasn't that exciting.

Hermione: It was... ok... A little short, though.

pRoNgS-78: So true. It just wasn't a very creative day for me, but one of my readers (you know who you are) would have killed me had I not updated, so.

Hermione: I see. I have to admit that I was quite confused about what Harry said. That he can't get away from Cho even after she's left. I didn't understand at first and couldn't think of what to say.

pRoNgS-78: ...I know.

Hermione: I did wonder why you'd made the Waverly girls out to be like Cho, and I can't believe I didn't catch it earlier--

pRoNgS-78: OK! I think that's all we have time for today. I'll see if Harry will come on next time, hopefully he wont be as bothersome as the last two (Throws reproachful glance at Hermione).

Hermione: What? What did I say...?