-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-

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:Chapter Eight: Chock Full

Waking up early on Saturday - Hermione had a sudden thought. She jumped up from her bed and quickly wrote something down. When she was finished she put the parchment into her mailbox. She sat in her dorm room staring at her mailbox, waiting for the reply. A few minutes later she took the new paper from her glowing mailbox.

'Yes, those are my initials. Yours wouldn't happen to be HG? If so, meet me in the Common Room immediately.'

Hermione ran down the stairs into the Common Room and as soon as she saw Ron, she lunged herself into him for a hug. They were both laughing so hard tears started to form. You would almost think they accidentally ate something from the Weasley twins.

The people that were already in the common room didn't know what to think. The two people in the middle of the room were laughing like hyenas. Or were they crying like Moaning Myrtle? It was hard to tell when both bodies were shaking and the noise could be either laughter or sobbing. At that point, Harry and a few other late-waking Gryffindors were watching from the bottom of the stairs.

"Y..you..you're my match?" Ron barely got out.

"I can't believe we've been secretly writing to each other for almost a month." She said, pulling away to look at him.

"I can't believe the Sorting Hat thought we were a good match." He replied.

"Yeah well, if we both wanted to spend the rest of our lives constantly arguing with our lovers, we would be perfect. But that doesn't sound very appealing to me."

"Me neither." Ron said while rolling his eyes.

"Friends?" Hermione offered while sticking her hand out.

"Only friends!" Ron agreed while putting out his hand to shake on it.

They both smiled at each other and gave a quick hug. Most of the Gryffindors that were following along with the dialog were now giggling at the thought of Hermione and Ron together as more than friends.

"What?" Hermione asked. "It's not that funny!" She exclaimed, but it only made her and Ron laughing that much more.

-o-O-o-

Sitting down at breakfast, Ron was telling Hermione that he knew they were paired up long before she did.

"Last night at dinner, you said you were meeting up with your match. I had a feeling then that it was you then."

"Okay Ron, good job figuring it out." She said for the third time. "Are we still going to meet up for drinks at Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, sure. But we're going Dutch now… Hey, that gives me more money to spend in Honeydukes or Fred and George's store!"

"Oh brother." Hermione said while covering her face with her hands. Looking back up, she asked Harry, "So what time are you meeting Seamus?"

"At eleven in The Three Broomsticks." Harry replied in between bites of chocolate chip pancakes.

"So you'll still walk with us to Hogsmeade then?" Ron inquired while piling more biscuits and gravy onto his plate.

Harry nodded and continued to eat.

Hermione started reading the Daily Prophet that a delivery owl just dropped off. She set her fork down and looked at Harry.

"What is it?" He asked as he took the paper she was holding out.

Death Eater Returns

Bellatrix Lestrange, former Death Eater to You-Know-Who, has been spotted

in Germany. As you know, she is the only Death Eater that wasn't cleared,

put in Azkaban, or killed after the Final Battle in which Harry Potter won.

She barely escaped during that last battle and has been on the run ever since.

---

When Lestrange was spotted, it was apparent that she was on a mission to

finish the work her mentor started. There were witnesses who said she was

spreading the word and trying to start up a new band of thugs to help her out.

How she plans to complete what a much stronger wizard could not, is beyond

us here at The Daily Prophet. If you see her anywhere, please report it to the

authorities immediately. There is a monetary reward given for all information.

---

Also, we have requested an interview with Mister Harry Potter himself.

Hopefully he will have a few words to say on this matter and you can read it

in the next few issues. Until then, be on the lookout. Reported by: Rita Skeeter.

-o-O-o-

Harry finished the article and looked at the evil face of Bellatrix Lestrange on the front cover. Right then an owl swooped down and dropped off a very official looking parchment by his plate. He picked it up, wadded it into a ball, and threw it at Ron.

"You ready to go?" He said while standing up. Trying not to notice most of the students now staring at him because of today's headlines, he walked out of the Great Hall briskly.

His best friends finally caught up with him outside the doors and saw him leaning up against a wall.

"Does it ever end?" Harry asked them while staring at the ground.

"I'm so sorry Harry. You shouldn't have to deal with this every year especially after what you had to go through to beat the Dark Lord." Hermione replied.

"Yeah mate. Hopefully she'll be caught soon and you won't even have to deal with any of this. Don't let it get you down." Ron said while patting Harry on the arm.

Harry looked up and smiled. "You two are the best." He said. "Now let's go to Hogsmeade."

-o-O-o-

After the thirty-minute walk, they arrived in Hogsmeade. The first stop was to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop. As they walked in, both twins greeted Harry immediately.

"Great seeing ya, Harry!" Fred and George said together.

"Come over here and we'll show you some of our newest inventions." Harry and Ron followed them to the wall on the left. Hermione started browsing through the whole store.

Fred started, "You see this piece of candy? It allows you to put your current feelings into it. See, you hold it with your hand and say 'Excipio.' Then you have thirty seconds to put your emotions into it-"

"Like anger, giddiness, laughter, embarrassment, lust, or anything you could possibly be feeling." George added.

"Right," said Fred who then continued, "and then you give it to someone who eats it and for thirty seconds, they actually feel your emotion."

"We call it Dandy Candy." George added.

"Brilliant!" Ron added and reached out to grab a few. "Want any Harry?" He asked.

"Sure." He replied, but George was already putting a handful into his pocket for him.

After browsing through the twins' shop and buying even more stuff, they headed to Honeydukes.

There, Harry bought some chocolate frogs, chocolate-covered pretzels, and lollipops. Ron bought as much of everything as he could. Hermione left carrying a small bag of candy necklaces.

By then, it was almost eleven. The trio walked into The Three Broomsticks. Harry told his best friends to walk back to Hogwarts without him. He then spotted Seamus at a table and headed that way. Sitting down next to him, Harry put his bag on the ground.

"Hey you!" Seamus said while leaning over to pat Harry's hand. He then pulled out a small box and pushed it over to Harry.

"Hi Seamus. Oh man, I didn't even think to bring you anything. I'm sorry." He said.

"It's okay, I know how your last date at Hogsmeade went. I'm shocked you even agreed to come." He pushed the box even closer to Harry.

Harry picked it up and lifted the lid. Chocolates were inside. He smiled and Seamus shrugged.

"Thought it would be too early for jewelry. And didn't think you'd want to be carrying around flowers." He told him.

"Well thanks. I appreciate that. And thank you for the candy. The perfect gift." Harry said.

The rest of the date went well. Seamus noticed that Harry was more comfortable when they talked about regular stuff versus discussing anything relationship-wise. So they treated it as if it were a friendly gathering and not a serious date. That was fine with him, he was just glad Harry didn't cancel on him. Plus, they were the talk of the school.

After drinking two butterbeers apiece and having some appetizers, they decided to leave.

While walking back towards Hogwarts, Seamus asked Harry what he wanted to tell him yesterday morning. They both stopped walking and looked at each other.

"Oh that." Harry said. "Um, well, I just wanted to tell you that I wanted to keep our date today. But I also wanted to be honest with you and tell you that I am having issues seeing you as more than a friend. Hermione told me to give it time, but it's been two weeks and I am still having trouble-"

"So you don't think you have any feelings towards me besides friendship ones?" Seamus interrupted with a slight frown. But then it grew into a smirk as he said, "Prove it." He quickly leaned down to capture Harry's lips.

Harry was caught off guard, but allowed the kiss to happen. Seamus' lips met his and he couldn't say he was put off by it. He wasn't really enjoying the kiss but he parted his lips at the other boy's urging. Harry felt his mouth being invaded and Seamus' tongue was a bit chilly. After a few seconds, Harry gently broke off the kiss and backed away from Seamus, who then looked a bit dazed and giddy.

"So be honest with me. If you didn't feel anything there, let me know. I'll back off." Seamus promised.

"Um, okay. It didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel any sparks either." Harry answered honestly.

"Oh man, but you are such a great kisser!" Seamus said. "I only promised to back off because I was sure you felt something like I did."

"I'm sorry Seamus. I can't force myself, you know? But I would love us to stay friends - if that's fine with you."

"Yeah, of course I do." He said while patting Harry on the back. They continued walking towards Hogwarts.

They never noticed the blond haired boy down the road, behind them. When he saw Seamus kissing Harry, he pulled his wand out and aimed it towards them. But the fast-as-a-bunny Pansy removed it from his hands before he could mutter off a spell.

"Now, now, Draco. You see Harry stepping away from Seamus there? It's obvious he didn't want to participate in that. Nothing to worry about." Pansy consoled Draco.

"Hmph." Draco replied with narrowing eyes. "You should have tried out for Seeker. Now give me my wand back."

"There's no way I could have beat you during tryouts. And I'm not giving you your wand until we are back at the castle."

They started walking again and caught up with Harry and Seamus within minutes. As they were passing them, Draco turned to the two boys and nodded his head.

"Hello Harry. Goodbye Seahorse." And then him and Pansy continued walking past them. Pansy had a huge grin on her face when she looked at Harry.

After they were passed – Seamus said, "Those two are weirdos."

"Agreed." Said Harry.

-o-O-o-

Later that night, Harry allowed himself to think about the Lestrange ordeal. He asked Hermione to use the D.A. coins to set up their first meeting of the year. Then he pulled Neville aside and told him to start passing word to anyone who wanted to come, that the next meeting would take place in a few days.

Neville looked pleased.

-end of chapter-

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Authors Note One: Sorry to all of you Ron/Hermione shippers! Hope I didn't offend anyone.

Authors Note Two: Loosely translated, 'excipio' means 'capture' – at least according to an online free site, it does.

Update:you-go-on-my-cookie told me that Excipio is not the right translation for 'to capture.' Instead it should be Cape. Thanks for the information, but I think I will keep excipio because it looks better written down.