Mistakes and Misjudgements
Harry Potter sat in the empty Transfiguration room, pulling at his jet black hair in frustration. He knew he should tell her how he felt … but he was so scared at how she might react … and how everyone else might react for that matter.
This is stupid, he thought angrily. There's only one way to know how everyone will react!
Reaching a decision, he stood up abruptly and made his way towards Gryffindor Tower. Halfway down the Charms corridor however, he heard someone snivelling. Doubling back, he peered into Flitwick's room and saw Luna Lovegood sitting in a corner, huddled in a ball.
"Luna, what's wrong?" Harry crossed the classroom to join her. She glanced up, startled, her eyes red and puffy. "Ron dumped me."
Harry was puzzled. He'd thought Ron was happy with Luna. "What happened?" he asked.
Hiccoughing, Luna said, "He said he was being unfair to both of us and that he has just realised that he's in love with someone else and can't believe that it's taken this long to work out …" she dissolved into tears again, leaning towards Harry for comfort. He was surprised and didn't know what to do so he awkwardly put his arm around her and patted her shoulder. He wondered who Ron could possibly be in love with and he started thinking about random girls who could be a possibility but ruled them all out almost straight away. Frowning, he wondered maybe if Ron had only said that to get rid of Luna … but no, Ron wouldn't do that, he thought confidently.
He suddenly realised that Luna was not crying anymore. He took away his arm and she looked at him, then without warning, she reached up and kissed him. For a second, Harry didn't realise what was happening, then he leaped back, his mouth open in horror. "Luna, I -," he broke off, catching sight of Ginny standing in the doorway, staring at both of them with a look of both shock and disgust on her face. "Ginny, I can explain," Harry said, standing up and striding towards her.
"Don't bother," she said, turning away. Harry reached out and touched her shoulder and she turned round, glaring at him. "Ginny, I've been looking for you, there's something I need to tell you!" he said hurriedly.
"I don't want to hear anything you have to say, now why don't you go back to your girlfriend?" she growled with narrowed eyes.
"Ginny!" Harry grabbed her arm as she made to turn away and she turned round and slapped him hard across the face, wrenched her arm out of his grip and raced down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower.
Cursing and putting his hand to his face, Harry made to go after her but went back to the doorway of Flitwick's classroom and said to Luna, who was now standing and straightening her robes, "I'm sorry, Luna, I only see you as a friend!"
She stared at him with her freakishly huge eyes and said, "I only see you as a friend too Harry. The reason for my kiss, I believe, was that I felt vulnerable and weak and you just happened to be there … I'm sorry if I ruined things for you and Ginny," she added.
Harry felt numb. "Right," he said. "By the way, do you know why Ginny was so angry?"
Luna smiled. "She loves you Harry."
"How do you know?" he asked her, his heart thumping wildly.
"Well, I'm one of her best friends and she tells me often enough!" she replied.
"Right," said Harry again, his pulse still quickening. "OK, well I'm sorry about you and Ron but I have to go – see you later!"
"Bye," Luna replied dreamily.
Harry sprinted as fast as he could towards Gryffindor Tower, hoping he could find a girl in the common room that he could persuade to make Ginny come down from her dormitory. When he arrived however, he didn't see a single girl in the common room so he wondered what he could do. He decided to ask Ron if he'd seen Hermione and made his way up to his own dormitory. When he opened the door, he saw Ron on his bed, with his arm around Ginny and Hermione was on her other side, patting her hand. Ginny was crying but looking up and seeing him standing there, she hastily wiped her eyes and Ron's attention was drawn to the door where Ginny and Hermione were both looking. In one swift movement, Ron was in front of Harry and swung a punch at him that hit him square on the nose. Taken by surprise, Harry staggered backwards and didn't stop in time for the stairs. He rolled down backwards to the bottom of the whole flight of spiral stairs. As he landed hard against the wall, he gingerly got to his feet and could taste blood in his mouth. He heard thundering footsteps on the stairs and looked up in time to see Ron throw another punch at him. He fell backwards again, onto a chair this time and everyone in the common room went deadly silent, watching in awe and surprise – last time they had seen Harry and Ron together was at breakfast and they were best friends then – what could possibly have happened? Intrigued, they all gathered as far away as possible and still have a good view.
Harry staggered to his feet again, pulling himself up using the wall and chair. Seeing Ron prepare to hit him again, he put up his hand and said, "Please Ron, stop."
Ron glared at him. "What did you expect?" he asked savagely. "Hugs and praise?"
"What?" Harry looked at him blankly.
"You've messed my sister around too often Harry. You knew she liked you, yet she finds you making out with her best friend, who, by the way, was your best friend's girlfriend until only about an hour ago. Talk about tactless!" he concluded with disgust, looking Harry up and down.
Harry shook his head. "Ron, you don't understand. Luna kissed me, I was just comforting her because she was upset that you'd dumped her!"
"Well Ginny didn't see it like that. And now she's heartbroken. And it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" he yelled, punching Harry hard in the chest and storming back up the stairs.
Choking, Harry collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. With one thought on his mind, he straightened up as best he could and staggered up the stairs, pulling himself up using the handrails. Everyone watched him until he was out of sight then went back to their seats, gossiping away.
Angrily, Harry wrenched the dormitory door open and once inside, he slammed it shut again, still clutching his chest, half doubled over.
"Ron, what did you to him?" Ginny wailed.
Ron looked at him with disgust. "That rat deserves it after everything he's put you through." Harry looked up at Ginny. He tried to utter her name, he wanted to talk to her, tell her he was sorry and that he loved her … but his breath kept catching in his lungs … he tried to inhale but his chest wasn't working … everything started spinning and he collapsed to the ground unconscious as everything went black. Ginny bolted forwards and knelt beside him. Sobbing, she checked his pulse. "His heart's beating extremely quick … and as far as I can tell, he's not breathing …" she said fearfully. "Hermione, what will we do? He needs oxygen!" she said almost hysterically.
Hermione was waving her hands frantically, unsure of what to do. Ron looked a bit guilty. Ginny rolled her eyes. "Very helpful," she muttered. There was only one thing for it. Ginny held Harry's nose, opened his mouth and blew into it. The she pushed down his stomach and did the same thing again. After three repeats of this with no result, Ginny becoming more anxious and frantic each time, Harry finally stirred. Ginny stepped back at once to give him space and Harry tried to sit up, choking. Hermione ran behind him and slapped his back and soon his coughing eased off and he wheezed, "Thanks," to her.
Ron was sitting on his bed, his hands over his mouth. Harry looked at him and said weakly, "Ron, mate, I'm so sorry for everything I've done, and you're right that I deserved a beating but I want you to know that I love Ginny and always have – that's why I was looking for her today." He heard someone gasp and looked around. Ginny was standing behind him and he hadn't realised and now she was looking at him with sorrow and regret. Slowly, he stood up and she hurried towards him and led him to his bed where they both sat down and she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Relieved that she obviously didn't hate him, Harry hugged her back, a lump forming in his throat and tears prickling his eyes.
They broke apart, smiling at each other, and Harry wiped a tear away from Ginny's eye. He reached over and kissed her, so passionately that he didn't want to stop. Eventually, they heard Ron cough and pulled away, looking at him. Hermione was sitting beside him, both her arms around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. Suddenly it clicked. Harry knew now why Ron dumped Luna – he was in love with Hermione! Before he could pass comment however, Ron said, "I shouldn't have hit you Harry. I let my anger get the better of me and I'm sorry for hurting you so badly. You could have died and it would have been my fault. I'm really sorry."
Harry grinned. "Don't worry about it, mate. Are we OK now?"
Ron smiled. "Yeah. Of course."
The two of them stood up and hugged. Harry was aching horribly from being hit and from falling down all those stairs but bit his lip. The two separated and the four of them went down to the Common Room to play exploding snap. Once they were down, everyone went quiet again, totally confused this time – Ron and Hermione were hand in hand, as were Harry and Ginny, and Harry and Ron were joking and laughing, just as they had been that morning at breakfast! Deciding not to even bother trying to understand, they went back to their businesses.