February 4, 2004

Harry opened his eyes. Everything was blurry but there was sunlight - everywhere. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. The pounding in his head was only getting worse by the second, and there was an incessant buzzing noise in his ears. Slowly, the events of the previous night came rolling back to him and Harry recalled Ron taking not one but two swings at him. He lifted his hand and rubbed his jaw, surprised that the only remanent of the brawl was a dull ache. From what he recalled of the night, Ron packed a hard punch.

Outside of his bedroom, Harry heard the sound of a window opening and he immediately shot up in bed. He felt around his beside table - first for his glasses and second for his wand. Once his vision was restored, Harry slipped out of bed and padded quietly to the door, listening carefully. The buzzing noise suddenly stopped and Harry squinted. Someone was moving about in his living room - there was no doubt. He tightened his grip on his wand and ripped the door open, prepared to curse the first thing that moved.

"Oye!" He yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are?!" He bounded into the living room and crossed into his kitchen, his wand squarely pointed at the back of the intruder. Hermione merely glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Harry," she said, turning her attention back to the food cooking on the stove range. "Put your wand down before you kill one of us and sit down."

Harry stared at his friend's back, dumbfounded. His slowly lowered his wand hand to his side and glanced about his flat, taking stock of what Hermione had been doing. There was absolutely no dust in sight and when Harry noticed the abandoned vacuum in the middle of his living room, the mysterious buzzing noise was explained. He dropped into a kitchen chair and sighed.

"Jesus, Hermione. What time is it?"

"Half eight," she said.

Harry groaned again. "How long have you been at it, then? And did you sleep at all? We didn't stop talking til at least two in the morning." Harry waited for a response but Hermione remained uncharacteristically quiet.

"Hermione, what is it?"

She turned slightly, glancing at Harry from over her shoulders. When Harry noticed that her cheeks had flushed and the tips of her ears turned pink, he narrowed his eyes.

"Out with it. What'd you do?"

"Well..." she said, clearing her throat. She turned her body so that she was truly facing Harry. Squaring her shoulders, Hermione looked him in his eye. "Okay, Harry. You can't be angry with me. I only did it because I care about you. And I've been worried - we've all been worried." She began speaking in that authoritative voice of hers that Harry knew so well but underneath, he could still hear the quaver in her voice. "You've been asleep for two days."

Harry's eyebrows shot up at that, and he began to respond but fell quiet when Hermione lifted her hand to silence him.

"And it's because I... well, I slipped a bit of a sleeping potion into your tea before we retired to bed."

Harry felt the anger rush back in and he stared at Hermione in disbelief. Her cheeks flushed an even deeper red. "You did what?" he asked. Harry managed to keep his voice steady but his knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the table.

"It was just a half dosage. Nothing much. I didn't expect you to sleep for longer than four days-"

"Four days... Are you mad?!"

"And of course I diluted it with the dreamless sleep potion-"

"You mixed potions?!" Hermione dropped her gaze to the floor with obvious contrition. "Hermione, you have no way of knowing how those potions could have interacted with one another. God, I could have been put into a coma! You could have put me into a coma!"

At Harry's accusation, Hermione looked back at him but her remorse quickly faded so that she merely looked insulted. She even had the gall to roll her eyes.

"Please. If there's one person who knows how to handle potions and the potential mixing hazards, it's me. I wouldn't have put you into danger. Much danger, that is. And yes, I know that I was wrong and I'm sorry. Ron about bit off my head when I told him what I'd done but Harry..." Hermione stared at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't tell me that you weren't exhausted. You were being stretched so thin... and you needed the sleep. Just a few days to recuperate and no have to think about anything..."

Harry watched her. One one hand, he was furious. Hermione had essentially drugged him and the very act was an incredible violation of his trust. But on the other hand... Harry sighed. She was right. All of this anger and keeping the darkness at bay? Harry was tired, all of the time. Somedays he hardly had the energy to pull himself out of bed. He rubbed his hands over his face and glanced at Hermione again. His resolve to be furious with her evaporated.

"There's no way that it'll ever be okay, Hermione." At that, she nodded. "But... but I s'pose I understand why you would have thought about it. I... You're right. I am tired. And if I'm completely honest, I do feel better now." Harry offered her a small smile. "And I think I'm going to go see Luna today. You know, come clean and just ask for her forgiveness." Hermione raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but Harry shook his head. "No, stop. I know that you think I'm out of my head but... But I love her. And I was a total ass the last time we spoke. Don't try to talk me out of it, either. If Luna'll have me back? Everything will change. I can feel it."

"And if she says no?"

Harry shrugged one shoulder. "Well... I'll have to move forward then, won't it?"

Hermione bit her lower lip and glanced at Harry. He instantly noticed the guilt on her face once more and began to panic.

"What? What now?"

"Harry... I..."

"Hermione, what?!" he barked.

"Don't yell at me, okay? While you were asleep... I went to visit Luna." Harry stared at her in disbelief. "I had to know her side of things."

"Her side of things? Christ, Hermione! It wasn't your place!" Harry jumped from his seat and began pacing the length of his small kitchen. "Who the hell do you think you are? You're completely out of line!"

"I am your friend, Harry! I was worried about you and I needed to make sure that Luna hadn't-"

"Hadn't what?! Hadn't cursed me into falling in love with her? Why couldn't you have just left it be? Left me be?!" Harry began tearing at his hair. Hermione stepped forward and reached a hand out to stop his crazed gait. At her touch, he rounded on her and pushed a finger into her face.

"Don't you dare touch me," he said through gritted teeth. He grabbed his wand from the kitchen table and in a few long strides, bounded out of the door. Hermione was still trying to process what had gone so terribly wrong with the loud pop signaled that Harry had left.