Chapter 2

In the early morning, Ron wakes up to the silent snores of his fellow roommates. Pulling the cover down to his waist, he turns over onto his side to face Harry's bed. Harry is lying on his stomach, his arm resting under his head. Ron props up on his side. He was being silly. Why in the world would he have feelings for Harry? There wasn't anything that Harry could have done to make him feel this way. The only thing that he could think of that would have possibly put these thought in his mind would be the many nights they had spent together alone playing exploding snap or wizards chess. Or those midnight cram secession on the sofa in the common room we they would put their heads together while figuring out there difficult potions' homework. Maybe he had imagined it, but there had be some very uncomfortable silences between them, that at that time he had shrugged off as just them being tired. Thinking back, he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. His mind continued to decipher these weird occurrences, until he was shaken out of his reverie by Seamus.

"Ron….hello, Ron!" whispered Seamus in Ron's ear while shaking him. Jumping, Ron looked around.

"What..Oh, good morning Seamus," said Ron as he pulls the covers a little higher

"Are you going to get up, we have to get our schedules early today. Didn't ya see the notice board?"

"No, I didn't see it" said Ron. "I'll wake up Harry.

"Well, you better hurry up," says Seamus. He turned and left the room with Neville and Dean. Ron clambered out of the bed and crossed the space between his bed and Harry's. He stands over him, and pauses.

Harry's Dream:

The clock had just struck midnight and He and Ron, still awake, poured over some very complicated calculations for astronomy. They are huddled together on the floor in front of the blazing fire, their quills scratched back and forth over their parchment as they make one mistake after another. Ron's threw down his quill in frustration, leaned against the sofa, and frowned at Harry.

"I don't understand this at all," he said. He ran his hand through his hair and begins to rub his temple to lessen the headache that was making him quite dizzy. Harry glanced over at him and put down his quill as well. He propped his head on this bent knee and smiled.

"Maybe you're trying too hard and are overlooking something," said Harry. He crawled over to sit beside Ron and grabbed his paper. Ron leaned in to look at the paper with him. Harry could feel Ron's hot breath on his neck and he could smell the saucy scent of Ron's cologne. He inhaled, then began to speak.

"Uh, I think your problem could be that you added Neptune before you considered the movement to Pluto revolutionary time frequencies," stated Harry. He looked sideways at Ron who he saw hadn't comprehended a word he said. Ron continued to look at the paper in disbelief and defeat before he realized that Harry was looking at him. There eyes locked for a second and being only inches from each others faces, there was a lot of uncomfortable tension. Harry's eyes lingered on Ron's pink lips a split second too long and when he recognized what he was doing he sat back a little and waited for Ron's reaction.

"So, what you're telling me is I screwed up royally and I have to start over?" asked Ron.

"Um, yeah, I guess so!" laughed Harry. Ron punched him in the arm and Harry continued to laugh while he dodged the hits.

"Sorry! It's not my fault though. I'll help you if you want me too," Ron thought about this for a while the nodded his head in acceptance. Harry pulled over his own work and proceeded to copy his answers onto Ron's.

"What are you doing?" asked Ron.

"Ah, its okay, Hermione gave me the correct answers," he confessed. Ron looked at his in shocked disbelief.

"We're sitting down here killing ourselves, and you had the answers all along?" asked Ron. He pulled the paper from Harry and copied the rest of the answers onto his paper.

"Well, it was fun right?" Ron rolled his eyes at him and turned to finish his homework. Harry this time to daydream.

Why had he wanted to spend this extra time with Ron alone? Honestly, he just wanted to see what would happen. It wasn't that he was expecting anything to happen because he and Ron weren't like that. Every time they were together, he could feel that tension brewing under the surface. The only problem was that he didn't know exactly what it was that was brewing. He liked Ron. They had been friends for such a long time. They had spent almost everyday in each others company, that they couldn't help it. Help what though, he thought? He looked at Ron, deep in concentration, his red hair shining yet more red from the glow of the fire. As he examined his face, he noticed the many freckles that covered his face. Each freckle seemed to have etched its place in his memory. He studied the way Ron hunched his shoulders forward as he leaned over and how when he paused has he wrote, he would tap this quill up and down impatiently. There was a little lock of hair that flipped oddly out from the rest and he knew that as hard as Ron would try to lie it down, it continued to protrude out to the side. All these things he took notice of without really know why, and when had he took notice? He didn't know how he felt, but he knew he felt something.

Ron finally finished copying the answers and put the quill down. He fingered an ink mark on the side of his hand and when the mark would budge, he looked up and smiled at Harry, the light of the fire putting his profile in half shadow. Harry grinned back….

"Harry?" asked Ron as he reached a hand out to him. Harry reached a hand out, and their finger tips brushed.

"Yeah," answered Harry as he grinned back.

(End of Dream Sequence)

"Harry, wake up. We have to get our schedules early!" Harry woke up and realized that he was reaching out in his sleep. Ron was holding his hand and was looking down at him with concern on his face. He stirred and lifted up onto his side; he pulled his hand away from Ron, and hoped that he didn't do anything else out of the ordinary. He looked disoriented at the sight of Ron standing over him.

"What?" Harry asked, as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, squinted up at Ron.

"Are you okay? You were mumbling in your sleep." asked Ron.

"Yeah, I'm all right. Did you want something?"

"Yeah, we have to get our schedules early, get up" He crossed over to his bed, and dressed. Harry climbed out of the bed behind him, and pulled on his clothes as well. Harry was shaking a little and his palms were sweaty. Why was he dreaming about Ron, he thought? Yeah sure, he had had several dreams with Ron in them, but this one seemed different some how. Every encounter with Ron seemed magnified and drawn out in his dream. He thought to the end, before he was awaken, and he was sure that if he hadn't been woken up, he would have kissed Ron. Oh my God, he thought! What was wrong with him? Nothing like this had ever happened before. These dreams had never been interrupted with close contact and tension of any kind with Ron. Why were they now? He shook his head to rid his head of these thoughts. After he dressed, he and Ron descended the staircase to the common room together.

"Did I do anything odd, you know, in my sleep?" asked Harry. Ron shook his head and continued to look at Harry in concern.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." They entered the common room and looked around to try and spot Hermione.

"About time, I thought you two were never coming," yelled Hermione as she crossed the room toward them. "Can we go to the Great Hall then? Hermione turned to leave, but Ron held her back.

"Harry, we'll catch up with you, okay," said Ron.

"Okay, what wrong with you guys?" asked Harry.

"I forgot something, and Hermione is going to help me find it. You can go ahead, we'll catch up." Harry shrugged and wondered what Ron could have possibly left this early in the morning. Looking once more over his shoulder at the two of them he left

"Ron, what do you want," asked Hermione, as he pulled her to a chair. He sat next to Hermione and waited till the common room is empty then looked at Hermione.

"Were you serious about what you said yesterday? He asked. She looked back at him and tried to remember what she said.

"Umm, no, I was just playing," she threw him a nervous smile and waited for him to respond. He looked off into the distance and tried to find a way out of this embarrassing conversation.

"Well, let's go then. We shouldn't keep Harry waiting." He stood up and made toward the door, but she grabbed him.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked. He didn't know. Really there was nothing to tell.

"No," he added. She was silent so he exited the common room. Hermione stood there for a whiledeep in thought. Why would he bring that up unless he wanted to tell me something, she thought? She followed after him.