A/N:

Here is the next episode to my dear, dear story… I hope it's up to your expectations and enjoy. And of course, you have to REVIEW…

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter… But a million coins thrown into the wishing well couldn't make my wish come true, so there…

Who Knows

By: Carla P.

Chapter 6- What Could This Be?

Hermione had absolutely no idea that Harry had been thinking of her on their way towards the castle, the only thing that she knew was the fact that she had been thinking of Harry as they left the lake and the guilt that her thoughts had nothing to do whatsoever with friendship and such.

'What am I doing thinking of Harry like this? He's my friend, my best friend, for crying out loud, not to mention the fact that because of me, he and his best friend had an argument.' As these thoughts she hit herself at the frustration that she was feeling.

Harry snapped out of his reverie at this and turned to ask her, "Are you all right, Hermione?"

Hermione looked confused, as she hadn't noticed that she had smacked herself, when realization dawned, she lied "Yes, I am, I just forgot this essay I had promised myself I would finish today." Then flashed him an uneasy smile.

"You're thinking of school too much, Hermione. It's Christmas vacation, for crying out loud. What are you doing thinking of homework with Christmas only a week away?" his tone reprimanding.

"Well you know Harry, some of us actually care about our homework. Just because you tend to forget, doesn't mean we all do." Throwing him her trademark you-should-do-your-homework look.

"Hey!" Harry responded, insulted "I do my homework, I just don't plan on doing it before Christmas, that's all."

"Aha, let's just go to lunch then I could go to the library and finish the essay I mentioned." She said, her thoughts faraway and annoyed at herself that she had to do an essay instead of spending the day with Harry.

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Harry replied, worried.

"I have no idea… You want to come with me to the library?" Hermione asked, in voice that hid the hope she was feeling that she might spend the day with Harry just yet.

Harry's eyes grew wide at Hermione's suggestion. "No, you go ahead, I'll just go talk to the new members of the team, you know? They need to improve their technique. I mean three chasers and two beaters are important, you know, to win the cup." 'Yeah, right Harry, like you want to spend your day pretending that Quidditch is more important than spending the day with Hermione, your stupid for not accepting her invitation!'

"Whatever you say, Captain." She said a teasing lilt present in her voice, hiding how crestfallen she was that she and Harry couldn't spend the day together, Harry pushed open the door to The Great Hall. (Harry had been elected as the captain of the Quidditch team earlier that school year.)

After lunch the two parted ways, promising to see each other at dinner. Hermione headed towards the library, Harry the common room but both of them didn't part with each other mentally for as they were walking towards their destination and as they arrived there all the thoughts in their heads were of the other.

Hermione pushed open the doors of the library and smelled the scent of books, a scent she was so familiar and safe with. 'Ah, the only place I can be safe in, with the exception of being with Harry, that is. Oh my, where did that come from? Seriously, I must stop these fantasies about Harry, they're not healthy." She attacked her schoolwork with a renewed vigor, if only to purge herself of all thoughts of her raven-haired best friend.

Hermione had no idea that as Harry gave the password to The Fat Lady, (Skimbleshanks!) (A/n: I'm a fan of Cats, well, sort of, I was thinking of it when I wrote this, so… oh well) he was thinking if she had gotten to the library safely. 'Come on, Harry, you're not dense, of course she would have gotten there safely, as she goes there only about a million times every year.' These thoughts made him mentally slap himself on the forehead. So, when the Fat Lady granted him entrance, he focused himself in finding the new members of his team and give them pointers on playing, to forget Hermione, of course.

After about 5 hours of researching and writing, Hermione was so exhausted. All she wished to do was just head to the dormitories and turn in early but, as she had promised to meet Harry for dinner, she snapped the book in front of her shut and returned it to it's shelf and started to lug her feet to The Great Hall. 'Yehey, time with Harry.' Hermione let these thoughts go as she was too weary to fight with herself.

After about 5 hours of talking and giving Quidditch pointers, Harry was tired to the bones and thought of heading to the dormitories and rest his weary head on the pillow and falling asleep. But due to the fact that he swore to Hermione that he would meet her in the Great Hall for dinner he pushed open the portrait door and started to haul himself downstairs. 'Don't worry, Harry, you can see Hermione now.' These thoughts were present in Harry's head but he heeded them not as he was sure to have a headache if he did.

Harry and Hermione arrived at the entrance at the exact same time. As they saw each other, something happened, it was as if their fatigue evaporated at the sight of each other. They smiled at each other and Harry opened the door to let Hermione in first, reminding her of a similar event a few days ago. She chose to ignore these and instead she walked in and rewarded Harry's chivalry with a warm smile and thank you.

What could have been a nice night for the two was destroyed by the presence of one boy, Ron Weasley. Harry kept looking at him and obviously kept thinking of their argument, the look was filled with gloom and longing and it was obvious to her that his spirits lowered as the night progressed. Hermione noticed this and her mood changed from good to bad at Harry's imminent sadness.

That night, in her bed, as Hermione stared up at her four-poster, a lot of thoughts were swimming around in her head, the events that had happened in past few days. The trip to Hogsmeade, what she had found out from Harry, the hug, the fight in Hogsmeade, that depressing morning, going down to Hagrid's, the scary Cypabarca, the talk by the lake, tonight's dinner. As she was thinking of these she realized that all were centered on one boy, Harry Potter.

Hermione couldn't also help but think and react at the fight between her two best friends, and she was guilty at her reactions. She was shocked of the anger she felt for Ron for making Harry feel depressed like that. She kept telling herself that they were friends and he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and mistrusted Harry right away like that. And also that Harry would absolutely not have designs for her, anyway. She felt guiltier for being sad at this thought. She, on the other hand, felt an overwhelming concern for Harry; she realized that she hated seeing him like that, without life, without hope, unlike the typical Harry. Before long she was thinking of ways to make Ron pay for making Harry feel bad. When she realized the direction her thoughts had been taking she deemed it best to go to sleep. As she was closing her eyes, she couldn't help but see Ron's face, at this her temper boiled but as Harry's popped up, her temper vanished.

There in her moments of half-sleep, she remembered that she hadn't given it to Harry yet and thought that Christmas may be the best and most quiet time to do so. Before she completely closed her eyes, she murmured, unsure of what she was saying. "Something's happening, I'm sure" her eyes flew open when realization dawned at what she had said. She surveyed her surroundings, the worry seen clearly in her eyes, she opted to close them, let out a sigh then murmured once more, "What could this be?"

A/N:

Well… what could this be? I'll tell you… this is the moment when you press that button down there and make me a happy camper by leaving me some reviews…ok? Oh and I'm telling you if you want to read a beautiful fic read Twist Through Time by gladz27… I promise it's beautiful… if you liked mine you'll like it, ok?

Oh, and I know that I promised that I'd update in two weeks but my computer got busted, just ask my beta, Kelly. –so it's back to square one, people. Don't worry, I'll update in about a month or so… I swear this time.

Go on… you know you can't resist… Bye now, 'till I update. It depends on when I finish the next chapter and when it is beta read… peace people!