A/N: Well I must say that I'm thoroughly pleased to have logged onto FF to load CH 6 when I found that I had two more reviews and it seems like more people are reading what I'm writing. It was very uplifting. During CH 6 I found where I'm going to take the plot of the story, and since I know what I'm going to do, I'm going to take my time and excruciate every detail I can. Thank you msGLK for your reviews! Your words are very generous.
Last Chapter: Harry and Hermione tutor Goyle, Hermione helps Harry sort through his feelings and Ron apologizes to Hermione.
There was a delicate beauty in the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall that morning. The sky was a deep light blue and a few clouds seemed to float lazily across the sky. Harry noticed the beautiful sun shining and felt very uplifted by the exquisite beauty of the morning.
After finishing his breakfast, Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and went off to meet Goyle for their walk to the Divination tower. Goyle was waiting for Harry in the entrance hall and he seemed very happy when he finally saw Harry. As Harry walked over to Goyle the feelings of uncertainty flooded his mind and he seemed almost unsure of what to do. He continued walking toward Goyle until they were close enough for words.
"Good morning Harry!" Goyle said excitedly shaking Harry's hand. He seemed excited as though meeting a friend, not someone he was romantically interested in. Harry, though a little taken back by this thought, pushed those feelings to the back of his mind and returned the greeting. Even if Goyle did not share Harry's supposed feelings, at least Harry had another friend to go to classes with.
As they walked toward the Divination tower Harry told Goyle about the Quidditch try-outs he would be holding the next day. Goyle began to talk about whom, in his opinion, might make the best beaters for the Gryffindor team. Leading them into a discussion about which of their houses had 'the right stuff' to make a good Quidditch team; then Goyle said something that Harry would never have imagined any Slytherin saying.
"You know, if Weasley would stop worrying about other blokes and just play, he'd probably be the best Keeper at Hogwarts." Goyle said almost matter-of-factly. Harry almost stopped dead in his tracks. No one had ever said anything like that about Ron around Harry before. To tell the truth, he was shocked a little that Goyle had said something like that at all. "What? It's true Harry, he's really good." Goyle seemed to respond to Harry's silence.
"Well, yeah, us Gryffindor's know that, but we didn't think anyone else did." Harry finally said admittedly. Goyle just laughed at Harry and told him that Slytherin's notice everything, even the good things about the people they don't like. This was not to say that Goyle did not like Ron, in truth Goyle knew very little about the red head. They had, however, spent around five years disliking each other. The friendliness or at least, lack of fighting between the two houses came as a surprise to more than just the Gryffindor's.
When Harry and Goyle had finally sat at their table in Professor Trelawney's classroom, they began their practicing immediately. They had been assigned to continue with their advanced crystal ball readings. Seeing Goyle having a go first, Harry decided to read over what the book said about Advanced Crystal Seeing. He was surprised when he read that using this method one could possibly divine the future between two people. Thinking back on his earlier visions, Harry wondered if he had already done that. A few minutes later when Goyle had withdrawn his hands from the ball, Harry shuffled the Tarot cards, drew four carefully placing them around the crystal ball. He tried to focus his thoughts to that of him and Goyle.
The vision in the ball came to Harry slowly, as though it was being watched in slow motion. He saw a silver ribbon being wound together with a gold ribbon, hanging at the end of each ribbon were an emerald and a ruby. As the vision rolled through the crystal ball, Harry quickly wrote down what he had seen. When Goyle read what Harry had seen, he smiled a very satisfied smile. Unsure of what Goyle was smiling about; Harry looked at what Goyle had written down.
They had the same vision. Two ribbons being wound together. Harry did not know what to say at that point. Goyle spoke for him.
"Do you know what this means?" Goyle whispered quietly, not wanting to attract attention to himself and Harry. "I've been thinking about our visions from this week, and I think I've come to some sort of conclusion, but I don't know what it means." Goyle was still trying to sort out what he'd figured out, he wanted to be sure, but he needed Harry's help. "There's always red and green, gold and silver." Goyle stopped for a second to see if Harry was following.
"Like Gryffindor and Slytherin. I hadn't thought on that before just now." Harry said, still trying to figure out in his head what Goyle was getting at.
"I think this is telling us that Slytherin and Gryffindor are finally going to get past old feuds." Goyle concluded "I'm just not sure how, but I think Quidditch has something to do with it…" Goyle's voiced trailed off. Harry had been sure that Goyle was going to say something else, but when it didn't come, Harry just kept the current conversation going about Slytherins and Gryffindors becoming friends.
At the end of the period they walked together towards the charms classroom in as good a mood as ever. How could they not be in a good mood when it was meant to be that the Gryffindors and Slytherins were meant to be friends? Harry had noticed something that was out of place though. Goyle had been even more than uncommonly friendly with him during that particular period. They were constantly brushing up against one another. Their legs from the knee to the thigh hadn't been apart at all during the class. There was a closeness that hadn't been shared during the rest of that week. Was something happening between the two of them, or was Harry imagining it.
Harry was thinking on this as they walked in a comfortable silence towards Professor Flitwick's classroom. He looked at Goyle and noticed that Goyle had been looking at him. When their eyes met they both stopped. Harry was sure he saw something in Goyle's eyes. They smiled at one another and continued walking without breaking the comfortable silence that danced between them.
During lunch that day, Harry needed to talk to Hermione. During charms Harry asked Hermione if they could meet in the Library to talk about what was going on. Hermione readily agreed, seeing that she needed to get a book on Ancient Runes for an essay she had to write. With that settled Harry quickly ate and then hurried off to the Library before they had DADA that afternoon.
"What did you want to talk about Harry?" Hermione asked without looking up from her book on Ancient Runes. Harry was always secretly envious of how well she was able to multi-task. Harry told her of the most recent development in his feelings for Goyle. How they had a shared vision and seemed to constantly be touching one another. They talked for awhile in low tones because Madam Pince was patrolling the Library in a particularly foul mood that day and they did not wish to get detention their first weekend at Hogwarts.
Hermione told Harry that something may very well be happening between the two of them. She also warned him not to try and rush anything though. This was a very delicate situation. Hermione saw that maybe it was time that she talked with Goyle on her own. She asked Harry if it would be alright with him if she were to tutor Goyle on her own that night. They had both told Goyle to meet them after dinner for another session the day previous.
It was then that Harry remembered a particularly important detail about his schedule. "Wait, today is Friday?" Harry asked incredulously, mostly to himself. Hermione simply nodded questioningly, not really understanding the importance of that day being Friday. "I have an Astronomy lab to-night. I can't meet you guys after dinner. We're star gazing to-night! How could I have forgotten?" Harry said clearly upset at the situation. He did not want to disappoint Goyle by not being able to tutor that night.
Hermione did not feel the same way about the situation. "This is perfect Harry!" she said excitedly. "Just trust me." She said in response to his frightened look. "I can figure out if Goyle feels the same way that you do!" Hermione was looking very pleased with herself, but Harry was completely unsure about the situation. He did have to think about this for a minute, but when had Hermione ever failed him before? Realizing that Hermione was as best a friend as anyone could have, Harry decided to trust in her well-read wisdom.
"Alright Hermione, but please don't scare Greg off." Harry finally told her. With that it was settled. That evening Hermione would have a chance to talk to Goyle while Harry was at the Astronomy tower stargazing.
Harry was very nervous that entire afternoon. During their Transfiguration lesson he couldn't properly concentrate on the lesson. They were supposed to be changing the color of their hair, but all he could do was cause his hair to become more mussed than it already was. Professor McGonagall, thinking this was due to him being nervous about the Quidditch team tryouts the next day, was generous with the homework for the weekend. Assigning them only a short essay on the concepts of human transfiguration and telling them to practice in mirrors the hair changing spells.
After dinner Harry was off to the Astronomy tower and Hermione was off to the Library. As she walked toward the Library she wondered what she was going to talk to Goyle about. She finally decided to watch his initial reaction to Harry's absence and go from there. She brought her old fifth year Transfiguration book and notes with her, thinking that they would be helpful for Goyle and his tutoring. When she finally arrived at the Library, she found the large boy sitting at a table at the far end of the Library somewhat secluded from everything (and everyone) else.
"Good evening Gregory!" She said in a very cheery voice. Goyle noticed her approaching him alone, and seemed a little disappointed, but he smiled and greeted her.
"Where's Harry?" Goyle asked her warily. He didn't want to seem like a prat that she was helping him, but he had asked Harry to tutor him after all.
"Harry's in the Astronomy tower. He has a lab every other Friday." She told him, noting his reaction, adding, "He had forgotten about it until this afternoon." Goyle still looked a little disappointed that Harry wasn't present with her. Seeing this she decided to press on. "I brought my notes from last year with me. I figured they might be helpful for you." She showed him her notes and this seemed to cheer him up a bit. Apparently he had been having more trouble than she originally thought.
He found her section of notes on what they were studying and he began to look over them. Telling her what they were studying. They talked for awhile about the notes and then she went over the text with him, filling in pointers about the theory that weren't in the book. He seemed to relax a bit as they talked, noticing this she decided it was time to move the conversation in another direction.
"Harry told me that you were really brilliant at Divination." She said casually, not wanting to arouse his suspicion. He looked at her, wondering where that comment had come from, before answering.
"Yeah, I guess I am. I mean, I did get an 'E' on my OWL." He finally replied. "Why did you quit in third year? You're really good at pretty much everything you do." He asked her. She told him about how Professor Trelawney had insulted her. Talking about how books and facts were rubbish. Goyle had never known that, but he certainly understood someone not liking Trelawney and her constant talk of everyone's doom.
Hermione wanted to see how Goyle would react if she talked about Harry, but she didn't know how to do it without sounding silly. Then she thought of it. "You and Harry have been getting along really well lately." She said trying to gauge his reaction. "After last year I figured that you would pretty much hate him, but that doesn't seem to be the case…" Her voice trailed off a bit.
"I do not hate him!" He said defensively. "I never really did, but my father and Malfoy… everything was so crazy then. Harry is really great, I feel kind of bad that we weren't friends before now." He smiled a little before adding, "He's really nice to me. It's a huge step up from Malfoy, who is really bossy." Goyle looked away for a second. "I like Harry…" Goyle whispered this last part. Hermione was strained to her him, but she was sure she had. Had Goyle just openly admitted to liking Harry? That statement could mean a great deal of things, but in this instance she was pretty sure as to what he had meant. She would have to press this a little further.
"Gregory, what was that?" She acted as though she hadn't heard. Goyle told her it was nothing and looked back down at he notes, his face beet red. This meant that she was right and Goyle and Harry shared feelings for one another. Why were boys so stubborn about things like this? Neither of them was making this obvious situation easy at all.
"Goyle, I want to ask you a question, but I want you to promise not to tell anyone what I asked you." She told him trying to arouse his curiosity as much as possible. She was sure that Goyle, being a proud Slytherin, would not tell anyone what she was about to ask him. He nodded in agreement, his curiosity fully peaked. Did he already know what she was going to ask him? There was only one way for her to find out. "What would you think if Harry liked you as well?"
