Happiness

A/N: Ahhh!! Everything is so confuzzling.

Chapter 4: Hogwarts Express

The next morning, Harry woke up at 11 o'clock, his face was covered with dry tears, and he felt tired, as if he didn't even sleep. Please, let it all be a nightmare…

When Harry walked downstairs, Ron and Hermione were already embraced in each other's arms, mesmerized by each other's eyes. Harry walked passed them, saying a quiet, 'Morning." They didn't seem to hear him. He searched through the refrigerator and found the carton of milk. Harry was pouring the milk when he noticed Hermione and Ron started to kiss each other tenderly. His grip loosened on the carton and so the carton fell to the ground, white milk spilling everywhere. Harry watched the white colloid, seeping into the wood floor as if it was being absorbed slowly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "Just tired. I'll clean it up." Harry pulled out his wand and performed a non verbal charm. Quick as a flash, the liquid disappeared and Harry withdrew his wand.

"Alright kid, we're able to leave Hogwarts, so gather up your stuff." informed Mrs. Weasley. As Harry passed Ginny's room with Hermione and Ron trailing behind, Ginny's voice called, "Harry…could I talk to you." Hermione and Ron went around Harry and continued to their rooms. Ginny was sitting at her desk, folding some of her clothes.

"Yeah?"

"Look, I'm really sorry."

"About what?"

"Ron. He's such a git for taking Hermione."

"So. I never liked Hermione."

"Harry…"

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm happy for Ron. Ron liked her for ages. I knew it, you knew it. I'm glad for those two." aid Harry, impassively. He left the room and went into the room he and Ron shared over the summer. Hermione was there. She was laughing at a joke Ron had said.

"C'mon, Harry, you have to pack!" said Hermione smiling that angelic smile. Harry forced a smile and took out his wand. He gave it a flick and everything of his possession flew into his Hogwarts trunk. He cast the Scourify charm on Hedwig's cage. All of the owl droppings disappeared and so did her loose feathers.

"See a person like Harry could even know how to perform non-verbal charms." commented Hermione. Harry whipped around and said, harshly, 'Is that supposed to be funny?"

Hermione recoiled and said, "Harry, I-well…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" He turned to his original position and thrust his Hogwarts robes into his trunk. He didn't want to be mean.

"That's quite alright." he whispered. Harry locked the bolts of his trunk and lifted it up. "We're leaving in ten minutes." Then he bewitched his other possessions to follow. When he left, he didn't hear Ron and Hermione starting up again. Good. Harry stopped and shook his head. Why am I doing this? They don't deserve it! He let it go and continued downstairs.

Once they arrived at the Hogwarts Express, everyone said their goodbyes. Harry hugged Mrs. Weasley, but just as he let go, she whispered, "It will get better." Right. Harry grimaced and shook Mr. Weasley's hands and then departed through platform 9 ¾.

Hermione and Ron had already gone off to their prefect compartment without even saying goodbye to Harry. News had spread quickly thought Harry as he entered an empty room. A minute ago two fifth years, Harry suspected, whispered joyfully to each other, "Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley finally got together! Now Harry's going to be all alone."

"Not exactly alone…he's got me."

"Oh, right, not before I get him first!" They both quieted down once Harry passed the two of them pretending to not have heard.

You have to stop thing about her, Potter. You're suppose to save the world, not think about Hermione Granger, who is you best friend but a no-no to like, perhaps because of the fact that she's also your best mate's girlfriend! Get your act together! Tired of sitting alone in silence, Harry decided to do some quick readings; he took out a Charms book he had bought for his class (what the heck) and sat Indian style like Hermione usually does and read.

It wasn't bad at all, he decided after he came to the second chapter. This Indian way Hermione sits…its quite comfortable…I should do this again. He learned a bunch of brilliant facts which he thought could be quite useful for him. More and more, he became entranced in all of this knowledge he never knew existed. Right there and then, he made an oath. An oath that he will dedicate himself to learning more, as much as he can in fact until he has to fight.

"I can't believe it! Harry Potter, the Harry Potter reading!" exclaimed a truly shocked Ronald Weasley at the door. Harry looked up and grinned. He threw the book at Ron but missed and it went flying, almost hitting Hermione who had just appeared. Harry acted quickly; he thought of the hovering charm and the book stopped at that point. The book flew back into Harry's hand.

"Sorry." he muttered, embarrassingly. "Not at all! Harry that was an effective spell! I never knew it yet, where'd you learn it?" asked Hermione, impressively. What spell was it?

Confused, he held the book in his hand.

"Oh, that reminds me. I haven't done any free reading for perhaps the whole summer!"

"Oh, no Harry. You're turning into a bookworm like Hermione!" teased Ron. Hermione gave him a glare and Ron stopped grinning.

"Sorry, honey (Harry flinched)! I didn't mean it like that!" apologized Ron, like an obedient boyfriend that he was. snicker, snicker

"Chapter two's pretty good." Harry suggested as he laid back taking up the whole entire seat and returned to reading.

A half hour later, just when Harry was about to literally put a sock into Ron's mouth after he kept babbling about quidditch this and that, their compartment door opened. Behind the door revealed a gossip-thirsty Parvati Patil and a 'not-so-good looking' Lavender Brown.

"Is it true, Hermione? Are you and Ron really, like, girlfriend-boyfriend." asked Parvati.

Hermione, a bit shocked at their curiosity, nodded her head slowly. Lavender said, "Congratulations, Hermione." and than left.

"Sorry, she's a bit upset. Anyways, I'll see ya around Hermione-oh and Harry too." Parvati bade goodbye.

"How bout me?" Ron yelled after her. He looked a bit disgruntled mumbling, "…woman didn't even look at me…"

"She wasn't mad." Hermione said, quietly. "Why would she?" asked Ron, a bit agitated.

"Lavender, I mean."

"What about her? So what if she's-"

"She's your ex-girlfriend and you know…"

"Know what? She's the one who-"

"Ronald, you git, I was just saying how-"

"Don't call me Ronald or a git! What if I call you a-

"Shut up! The both of you!" yelled Harry dangerously, staring at his book. If you guys are together, at least stop fighting!

Harry slammed his book down to the floor and stood up, upstarting.

"Ron, Hermione was just wondering how Lavender isn't mad at her because she's your girlfriend now and Lav's your ex-girlfriend, the way she adored you and how you dumped her. And Ron, you broke up with Lavender just because she was quote ugly, unquote which was unreasonable and horribly cruel of you. The reason why she didn't say bye to you was because, uh hello! You judged her by her outside body features instead of what was in her heart and soul. The both of you need to stop bickering and insulting each other! You're boyfriend-girlfriend now! Lovey-dovey teenagers who can't bear to stay away from each other. Cuddling, kissing human beings doing what ever Homo sapiens do! And secondly--" Harry yelled furiously before their compartment door opened again once more. Neville, Luna, Ginny, and a few of their next door neighbors on the train appeared.

"What the bloody hell is all that yelling for?" asked all of them simultaneously. Harry took a deep breath and forced his way out of the crowd. He could hear Ginny's voice asking her brother, "What did you do now?" and Ron sputtering defensively. Harry just wanted to get away.

He ran past all the overlooking students in the hall and into a random room. He quickly slammed the door shut, catching his toe in the process. "Fuck!" Once he got over it he yelled furiously.

"Damn that Ron!" and fell into the empty seat. He closed his eyes, wanting to get away from hell.

"Harry?" asked a tentative voice.

Harry froze and looked beside him. Sitting there was a boy he recognized as Roger Davies and Marietta from DA and…Cho Chang.

"Shit!" He swore to himself. "I'm sorry; I thought the room was empty." He got up to leave.

"No, Harry, you could stay." offered Rogers, politely. "Problems?"

Harry collapsed onto his seat and sighed. "Well, you know Hermione Ganger and Ron Weasley, my best friends in the whole entire wizardry world, right? They're dating."
"Third wheel?" joked Roger.

"No, its not like I get left out or anything, its just…well, I'm not comfortable with them dating. You know with all the bickering they used to do and now I get to watch them kiss and cuddle like they're in love, which they might be…" Harry finished, getting lost in all of their times together when everyone was just friends. 'I just had a row with them two.

"Are you in love with Hermione or something?" asked Cho Chang. Harry was surprised; he didn't hear any trace of jealousy or rage in her voice. She sounded helpful.

"No." he answered, uncertainly. "It's just well…I'm not sure-I don't think I-no I don't…I just don't want them dating." Marietta was looking at him with smugness similar to Ginny's.

"What?"

"Oh, honestly, it is so obvious; you are in love with your best friend. I mean the female one." said Marietta.

"You were probably in love with her for all the seven years you've been friends with her. I bet you were just ignoring the feeling because you knew your best mate liked her so you chose to ignore your feeling." said Roger. Surprisingly, it made sense.

"Wow, honey…that was beautiful." commented Cho, deeply impressed.

Roger looked confused. "Yeah…it was. Cool."

"Or it might be a silly crush like the one you had on Cho two years ago. They'll most likely break up in a week or two tops." pointed out Marietta. Cho nodded in agreement.

"Yeah I guess." Harry felt surprised how he wasn't embarrassed or humiliated as Marietta said this. "So, why are you guys here? I thought you graduated."

"Didn't you hear? Hogwarts is allowing student who had graduated already to come back to Hogwarts to learn more advanced spells and sorts, you know because of all the You-Know-Who coming back to kill more wizards." This was such a casual conversation.

There as a moment of silence as they sat there, all thinking about where Hogwart's fate would lie. Harry was also thinking about something he was thinking about just a minute ago.

"Oh, yeah, do you guys want to join D.A again? I don't know, but I thought I'd be good."

Before they could answer, a person rapped on their compartment door.

"Harry?" It was Hermione.

"Yeah." The door opened. Hermione stood there, looking timid.

"Hey, Hermione." said Cho, brightly. "Hi…"she answered, wondering how in the world Harry could have been talking to her.

"Harry, there you are." said a voice from behind Hermione. Ron appeared, looking embarrassed too.

"You guys, thanks for the advice and everything. Catch ya later." Harry bade. As they walked back to their compartment, no one said a word to each other about Harry yelling at them. They chose to ignore that particular conversation.

Once everyone finished dressing in their school robes, they waited in awkward silence while the Hogwarts express came to a halt. Hermione stopped Harry by the arm and Ron followed to her side.

"Look, Harry…we're really sorry back at the train. It's probably just a habit we have always had and we haven't gotten over it. So that is why we decided to…"

Breakup, Breakup, Breakup, Breakup, Breakup, Breakup…

"…Finally settle all of our problems from the past and work it out." finished Hermione, slipping her hand into Ron's hand. Harry forced a smile and said, "Good, you guys should do that. You're girlfriend-boyfriend, remember? C'mon we gotta get seats."

Ron smiled, happy that he, his girlfriend and Harry understand each other. Behind, as they traveled to the castle, he swore over and over again. Why couldn't they break up, so it'll be easier for all of us! 'We'll work it out!' Work it out my –

"Harry?" Harry looked up and realized it was his old professor, now Headmistress standing distances away. She looked on the verge of tears.

"Professor-I mean Headmistress McGonagall."

McGonagall nodded her head and beckoned him to come forward. Hermione and Ron looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Hi, Professor-"he began until McGonagall grabbed him into a bone breaking hug, similar to what Hagrid used to give him. Harry squirmed uneasily at first but then realized how not so bad it felt to receive a hug and wrapped his arms around her too. The students passing through stopped and gaped. McGonagall wasn't usually an emotional woman.

"How are you, Harry." she sniffed. Harry fixed his shirt, nervously and answered, "Fine."

"Well, it's been very hectic here since... Albus's death. Everyone's running around and doing whatever."

"Have you replaced the Defense Against the Dark Arts position yet?"

"Well, yes… the only reason we reopened Hogwarts was because the children needed to learn how to arm themselves too. But I'm afraid not many chose to attend.

"Who's the DADA teacher?" asked Hermione, gingerly.

"I can't tell until feast, my dear." Professor McGonagall eyed Hermione's hand in Ron's and seemed to make sense of everything.

"Oh and you and Miss Granger have been dubbed Head Girl and Head Boy this year. Congratulations."

Harry gaped and Ron let go of Hermione's hand. Unaware of their reactions, she continued, "Well, the three of you should head to your tables. I'll be coming soon. Just mingle." She patted Harry on the shoulder and moved on through the crowd.

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