CHAPTER
7
Surrounded by enemies
Only more dreadful thing to do before the end of the day, Harry thought. To him, going to Defense Against the Dark Arts was by far more awful than ten hours of Divination in a row. Just how much he would have given to escape ,it, he couldn't have been able to say.
He met Hermione on the way to Lupin's classroom; she still had an Arithmancy book in her hands. They came down the stairs from the upper levels of the castle in silence.
"We're going to have to ask him where Ron is, you know," Hermione eventually said.
"Tell who?" Harry could almost hear his heart racing in his chest.
"Lupin," Hermione said with irritation, waving her book around. "But couldn't you stop pretending that you hate him? It's getting annoying, you kn─"
Harry froze, a hand on the railway. He knew he would have stumbled in the stairs if he hadn't been holding it.. For an instant he wondered whether he had heard right. Maybe he had a hearing problem; that, or the students around them were unusually loud.
Or maybe it wasn't really the Hermione he knew that had said the words. He stared at her in bewilderment, totally caught off guard.
The first question that came to his lips was 'how dare you? How dare you say that to me?' but he closed his mouth in time. He must have looked stupid, hanging on to the railing in the middle of the stairs with his mouth opening and closing simultaneously.
How could she ask this to him?
On the other hand─ yes, on the other hand, this was so much like her, being sincere all of a sudden.
Maybe she's right.
Pah. The answer hit him with the force of a hurricane. She was staring at him with determination, expressing for the first time what she thought about his behaviour with Remus─ and what everybody else who knew probably felt, too.
No.
No what?
No. She's wrong if she thinks I'm being stupid. She's wrong, because she doesn't know. None of it.
He still needed time to admit he was the one acting the wrong way─ if he ever admitted it. The accumulated anger still needed to come out, and he still had some things to tell Lupin.
Very well. If Hermione thought it, too, then he'd get over with it. Without her help, if such was her decision.
Harry abruptly let go off the railing and continued down the stairs, as if Hermione was no longer there. She followed him and quickly caught up with him as they reached the corridor that led to their next classroom.
"Come on, Harry, don't you think it's time for you to recognize─"
"Recognize what?" he said aggressively, taking a step away from her and settling himself against the wall once they were near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
She had crossed her arms on her chest as she always did when disagreeing. "Oh, come on, just because you can't admit he wasn't responsible for Sirius's death, we all have to suffer from your attitude?"
So you don't think he killed Sirius, Harry gritted his teeth.
"Who ever said he wasn't responsible?" He retorted stubbornly. As far as he knew, she had no proof of what she advanced─ and she hadn't been there in the Department of Mysteries.
You think this matters? They don't need proof to see that you're being a git, and you perfectly know it.
Yeah? Well you know what, just shut up.
Come on, just admit you were wrong and get over it! Hermione understands, don't you see? She's trying to give you the opportunity to get out of the mess you created, just seize it. She knows what you feel─
NO.
No what?
No she doesn't know what I feel, no she doesn't understand, no I'm not telling her Lupin's innocent─
Why not? Just because you're too proud to─
SHUT UP!
"Harry…" Hermione said pleadingly. Her tone was more urgent but also a lot quieter; now more Gryffindors had arrived and they were starting at them both with increased interest as the seconds passed.
"You're on Lupin's side, aren't you?" Harry said with disgust. "Why am I not surprised? You've agreed with him since the beginning─"
"Harry, stop it" Hermione seemed alarmed. He noticed a couple of girls sharing her Dormitory now muttering to each other. "Let's not fight over this at the moment─"
"You're the one who started it!"
"Please, Harry, there are more urgent things right now… think of Ron and─"
"Oh yeah? I bet Ron's thinking I'm stupid too─" More people stared. Harry didn't care, he was way past caring about whatever they thought. "Let me guess, does he think I should play the nice little puppet Dumbledore and everyone else manipulates? The little 'Boy-Who-Lived-hero-saviour-of-the-world' again? What? It's not enough that my parents died? That Cedric died? That my godfather died? I'm sick of it all. What do you suggest─"
The classroom door opened.
Hermione straightened up and muttered a 'hello, professor', a little red in the face after the argument.
Harry walked in furiously, throwing his bag on the first chair he found─ the one in the last row he always sat on in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and didn't look at Lupin anytime in the process.
It lasted for an hour. As Harry's blood stopped flowing madly in his veins, he concentrated on trying to act as indifferently as possible in Lupin's presence.
Now that he thought of it, Ron's prolonged absence was becoming serious.
"Hermione," he muttered as they were to read a chapter of "Defence Against the Dark Arts for sixth graders". She raised her head with apparent relief; Harry's silence was probably weighing on her nerves since the beginning of the hour.
"Yes?" she didn't seem as annoyed as usual when interrupted in the reading of a book─ Harry suspected she already knew the chapter by heart.
"Ron─" Harry chose his words carefully "─he should be back by now, don't you think?"
She nodded pensively. "Yes, he should be… I'll ask Lupin where he is at the end of the hour."
Harry didn't answer─ the few words they had exchanged were far enough without them being heard. He didn't like the idea of facing Lupin at the end of the hour─ but Ron was his best friend.
He decided that knowing where Ron was─ and whether he was dead or alive─ was more important than his feelings for Lupin. He'd let Hermione speak anyway; and he could put his hatred aside for a minute.
