Chapter 43- Faceoff in the Owlery

Severus had forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. It was a phase full of energy, hope and life, beauty and passion. It was an age to experiment, try out new things, fail, learn and grow; but with all of this came raging hormones which rampaged the body. Severus was getting a reminder of this as Harry stood in the kitchen and yelled at him for what was the fifth time this week, and the week wasn't even close to being over.

Harry had been obsessed with his girlfriend, whom he was adamant was not his girlfriend, since the Weasley's took their daughter home. That was the biggest lie Severus had ever heard come out of someone's mouth. When Harry wasn't taking out his frustrations on him, he was writing letters, sending them off, and hanging out in the owler in hopes of a reply, which had yet to come.

"You can't keep me from her!" Harry yelled as he slammed his hand down on the table, causing the empty mugs from breakfast to tip over. "I have to see her!"

"You are not her knight in shining armor," Severus replied, his voice filled with frustration. He was losing patience with the boy and he was tempted to lock the child up in the room for the next decade. "Miss Weasley needs time," he tried to say as calmly as he could, but anyone could tell that it was forced.

"She's alone!" Harry yelled as he started to pace back and forth in the kitchen.

Severus took note of the movement, noticing how Harry was unable to keep his hands still, showing his annoyance at the situation.

"She isn't alone!" Severus moaned, feeling as if he had already had this conversion with Harry yesterday and the day before that. Severus was starting to feel as if he was in a time loop, doomed to repeat the same day until the end of time. "She has her parents and her brothers," he explained, leaving out the Mind Healer that she was seeing. He only knew about it because Poppy had told him in confidence. According to Poppy, Miss Weasley had been doing much better since leaving the Hospital Wing three days ago. It was decided that it was best not to inform Harry since the child had to focus on his own healing, but it was clear that Harry was more concerned about Ginny than himself.

"You are holding me prisoner," Harry accused and it wasn't the first time either.

"Trust me, I would love to hold you prisoner. Nothing would bring as much joy as holding you captive, but you are free to wander about the castle. The only thing you are not allowed to do is use the floo network to visit your little girlfriend!" Severus snarled through clenched teeth.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry yelled as he stopped his pacing and turned towards his professor.

"You keep telling yourself that!" Severus shot back.

Harry let out a scream from deep within his throat before storming out of the chambers, slamming the door behind him. Severus didn't need to ask where he was going. The first time he asked, Harry almost bit his head off and he wasn't looking for a repeat. He just shook his head as he continued to clean up after breakfast, along with thinking about what he should do about Harry and his obsession with the Weasley girl.

Meanwhile, Harry made his way up to the owlery and over to the large opening, looking out into the morning sky in hopes of spotting an owl, but there was nothing, no sign of an owl. "Dammit!" Harry swore, gripping the railing in front of him. It's been three days, three long days of nothing. Harry kept going over in his head what could be happening at the Burrow, how Ginny could be feeling. All he could think about was what if Ginny was trying to take her life in the same way he did? Harry didn't know what he would do if he lost Ginny. For a reason he could not comprehend, Ginny made him feel different than anyone else, made him feel safer in a way.

Harry didn't know how much longer he could go without any news before his head exploded. All he could feel was rage for Lockhart, for what he did to Ginny, along with everyone else he tortured. He felt rage for Dumbledore for allowing it to happen, and he felt rage for himself for letting it happen. He was supposed to be the Chosen One, the one who would protect everyone from the Dark Lord, but how could he do that when he couldn't protect them from Lockhart? Harry felt like a failure.

Harry took in a deep breath, holding it for ten-seconds before letting it out in a slow, long release of air. Something his Mind Healer, David, told him to do when he felt out of control, yesterday when they had their session. At the time, Harry thought it was stupid, but as he did the technique that David told him about, he could feel himself starting to calm down.

Minutes passed in silence. The only sound was the ruffling of feathers or a hoot here and there from different owls. "How did you know where I was?" Harry asked out into the open space as the smell of lavender hit his senses.

"The Marauders Map," Hermione replied. "What are you doing up here?"

"The same thing I have been doing for the past three days, waiting for a response... or anything," Harry answered as he continued to look out into the open sky.

"Ron would like to talk to you and explain things," Hermione said, after a moment of silence.

"I don't want to talk to him," Harry replied, anger filling his voice.

"Harry-" Hermione started but was interrupted.

"Mate, I just want to tell you what happened," Ron spoke softly.

Harry turned around to see Ron and Hermione standing at the doorway of the owlery. "I know what happened," Harry spat. "You did exactly what I told you not to do."

"What was I supposed to do?" Ron yelled as he took a step forward towards Harry.

"Not confronting Ginny would have been good," Harry yelled back, taking a step forward himself. "I told you what would happen, but you decided not to listen to me. Now look what happened. Are you happy with yourself?"

"Of course, I'm not happy with myself. You think I liked what happened? I didn't mean for this to happen. I just...I just needed..."

"Needed what?" Harry cut Ron off, "Needed to know what he did? I could have told you that!" Harry shouted, "Now, because of you, Ginny knows what he did. She had to relive it all because of you!"

"You think you are the only one who cares about Ginny?" Ron roared. "Because you don't. I feel awful for what happened, for what I did, but giving me the silent treatment isn't going to fix anything."

"There is no fixing it. Ginny remembers and there's no taking it back. She will have to live with those memories for the rest of her life. You don't know what that could do to her. "

"I know she's handling it better than you did," Ron yelled.

"Ron-" Hermione spoke up but was soon cut off by Harry.

"'What did you just say?'

"I said she's doing better than you," Ron said again. "She didn't run away or down hundreds of potions."

Harry pressed his lips together, his hand forming into a fist in less than a second as he brought it up and punched it forward, aiming for the center of Ron's face.

Ron ducked the punch. Harry cried out in pain as his hand collided with the brick wall, cradling what was now a throbbing fist to his chest.

"For heaven's sake!" Hermione shouted as she made her way over to Harry and took his hand, annoying the painful moan he gave as his hand was moved. "At least two fingers are broken," Hermione confirmed.

"He deserves it," Ron spat as Harry made another move towards him, only to be blocked by Hermione.

"Stop it, the both of you!" Hermione shouted. "You—" She went on as she turned to Ron. "What you said was out of line and you know it. And you!" She turned to Harry, going on with, "We don't go around punching people. We aren't barbarians. Can we just agree that both of you have done some things and move on? In case the both of you forgot, the school is filled with students who may or may not be getting memories back. Shouldn't we be helping them instead of fighting with each other?"

Both Ron and Harry looked down at the ground as Hermione scolded them.

"Now, both of you say sorry," Hermione ordered.

"...sorry" Ron mumbled, still looking down at the ground.

"Better than that," Hermione demanded as she raised her eyebrows.

Ron slowly looked up to meet Harry's eyes. "...I'm sorry for what I said," he said as Hermione turned to look at Harry.

"...and I'm sorry for... trying to punch you," Harry spoke quietly, but it seemed to be good enough for Hermione.

"Good," Hermione said, pleased. "I'm going to take Harry to the hospital wing to have his hand healed while you go wait for us in the library!" She instructed, taking Harry by the arm and leading him out of the owlery and to the Hospital Wing.