Chapter 15

Eyes That Bear The Soul

"Harry James Potter, you come back here right now!" Hermione yelled at Harry as he tried to run away from her.

For the past week, Hermione had been nagging Harry on and on about him and Ginny's nonexistent "relationship".

"Hermione, please. Just leave me alone for a bit," Harry whined as he tried to make a b-line for the portrait hole in the Gryffindor common room.

He wasn't fast enough. Hermione grabbed him by the collar and pulled him backwards on to the sofa.

"Look Harry, Ron agrees with me. You and Ginny obviously fancy each other so just ask her out on a date or do something!" she said looking straight into Harry's eyes.

The thing everybody should know and learn about Harry Potter was that when you wanted to see his true feelings; his true emotions you just had to look into his green eyes. His eyes bore his soul. Hermione looked dead on into them and tears almost fell from her eyes.

Instead of seeing happiness and solace in Harry's eyes that she always thought she saw, she saw pain and suffering; hunger for love even though she didn't understand why; she saw unhappiness. All the happiness and solace in his eyes was a cover to help him hide his actual feelings about life and everything in between.

He had been through so much before the age of 17; not even most adults have suffered as much as Harry had in the past. He had lost his parents before he even had a chance to meet them, he had to live with the Durlsey's, he fought Voldemort at least once a year, he was mocked, teased, followed, praised, and among other things had the prophecy looming over his head.

Hermione had always imagined him dealing with it and going on with life but in his case you just couldn't go on. It was his destiny to fight or die trying.

But behind all his pain and unhappiness was something alarming, something surprising to Hermione. Behind all of that hunger for love was just that; love.

Beneath the depths of emerald was a love for many things. There was the love for the simple things in life, love for the people in his life, love for the things around him, love for his adopted family, the Weasley's, love for Ron and Hermione, love for Remus and of course Sirius but hidden in the depths was only one love; only one.

Ginny Weasley.

In Harry's eyes, Hermione saw Ginny and the love that Harry carried for her. It was true and it was real. Harry hid it well but this love; it was something not even Hermione could understand. In his eyes, Hermione could see Harry's idea of the picture of perfection. Of course, that was Ginny; Ron's little sister.

"Hermione, is something wrong?" Harry's voice echoed in her head. She immediately snapped out of her trance and looked at Harry once again, this time her eyes were brimmed with tears.

"Harry, please, j—just tell her how you feel. Let her look into your eyes and she'll see how much you love her," Hermione got up and ran up the stairs of girl's dormitory, leaving a very confused Harry behind.

"Hermione is acting really weird, don't you think?" Ron asked pointing his fork at Hermione who was playing with her food at dinner.

Harry looked up and saw that she looked close to crying.

"Hermione what's the matter?" Harry asked her from across the table.

She looked up and smiled at Harry who returned it. She noticed that his smile didn't reach his eyes and could feel tears coming down her face.

Immediately Hermione stood up and ran out of the Great Hall.

Ron and Harry looked at each other and then looked at Ginny who shrugged. The three stood up and followed Hermione out of the hall.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny ran up to the common room and found that it was empty.

"Where do you think she went?" Harry asked worriedly about his friend.

"I bet she's in her dorm, come on," Ginny said to the boys.

"We can't go up there! Ron tried that and he made it up a couple of steps and fell back down!" Harry exclaimed to her.

Ron nodded, looked unhappily at the stairs.

"GRAB MY BLOODY HAND AND FOLLOW ME!" she yelled.

Ron and Harry looked at each other and reluctantly grabbed Ginny's small hands. As they stepped on every stair, it creaked but did not give way. As they made it safely to Hermione's dorm door, the two boys let out a sigh of relief.

"How did you know it would work?" Harry asked Ginny as she put her hand on the door knob.

"Let's just say, from experience," she whispered to Harry who paled. She laughed and attempted to open the door once again.

"How did we get to her dorm anyway? Isn't it supposed to you know, know who you are and take you to your dorm immediately," Ron inquired to Ginny nervously expecting her to pounce on him.

"No Ron. Most of the time, the stairs determine who you are but when you think of someone else's name it will take you to their dormitory," she said one last time before finally opening the door.
"Hermione?" Ginny said quietly.

Hermione's figure moved slightly on her bed but she gave no sign of acknowledgement.

Ginny turned to them and looked pleadingly at the two boys.

They returned the look and they walked cautiously to Hermione's bed.

Ginny sat down behind her and rubbed her back soothingly. Ron sat on her right running his fingers through her now less bushy hair while Harry kneeled down in front of her trying to see her face.

"'Mione? What's the matter? Ever since this morning, you've been acting sort of weird. Please tell us what the matter is," Harry said to her.

Once again, Hermione gave no sign of acknowledgement.

"Hermione Granger. Look at me and please tell me what is the matter," Harry said firmly now.

She looked up and looked into Harry's eyes once again and saw that he was truly hurting for her.

She sniffed and wiped her face which was now red and blotchy from her crying.

Ginny looked at Harry as well and smiled at his kindness. Not even Ron knew what to say to his own girlfriend but Harry, Harry had a way of making people comfortable and soothed when they were upset.

"Harry, this… this morning, I-I looked into your eyes. I r-really looked into your eyes. What I saw made me scared and it really hurt me. I always thought that you were happy even with the prophecy and all. I always… I always thought that you dealt with it so well but I was wrong Harry! We were all wrong!" Hermione said now yelling, her face once again dowsed with fresh tears.

Ron looked at Harry confusingly along with Ginny.

"What did you see Hermione? What did you see in Harry's eyes that made you so upset?" Ron asked, turning Hermione towards him.

"He's in so much pain Ron! We can't help him with it! None of us can! All I could see was how much pain he was in and how unhappy he really was," she yelled into Ron's shoulder.

Ginny had stopped rubbing Hermione's back and looked close to tears herself. She looked at Harry who had his head in his hands.

"What pain was she talking about?" Ginny thought,

"Of course Harry has had such a hard life but he always seemed to deal with it."

The prophecy was hardly mentioned at all anymore and it seemed that Harry was living a perfectly normal life at the moment. Ginny had never really fully looked into Harry's eyes although she enjoyed gazing at them once in awhile.

"Harry, Harry. Look at me," she said tentatively.

Harry shook his head side to side not bringing his face up to Ginny's.

"Harry! LOOK AT ME!" she screamed tears falling freely down her face.

Harry looked up slowly. When his face, faced Ginny's she gasped. Ron looked at him as well and felt torn inside.

His eyes were filled with tears and he no longer had the cover-up of happiness in his eyes. It was his true feelings and it was very unsettling.

"Harry, why didn't you mention something?" Ron whispered in a pained voice as he looked into Harry's eyes seeing what Hermione had seen earlier in the day.

Ron was simply appalled as he looked and saw all the unhappiness in his best mate's eyes.

Since he and Harry had met at the barrier for Platform 9 ¾, they had been close friends and had told each other almost everything. Ron felt betrayed and sad for his friend. Harry being such a great person didn't deserve the life he had, he deserved better.

"I don't want anyone's pity Ron. That's all I get from anybody and I hate it. When everyone thinks I'm happy, everyone seems to be fine so I lie." he said his voice shaking.

Ginny stood up from the couch and walked over to Harry and hugged him.

Harry was slightly taken aback but obliged and put his head in her shoulder.

Ron and Hermione stood up and walked over and joined the hug. For a moment they all just stood there and said nothing until Ron let go and they all turned to him.

"Harry, don't you ever feel the need to just make us happy. Make yourself happy for once. All you ever do is worry about everyone else but you need to worry about yourself for once," Ron said seriously.

Harry nodded and stood up and gave Ron a pat on his back. Harry gave him a warm smile which Ron happily returned to his best friend.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

Harry turned quickly and saw Hedwig tapping the window furiously. He looked confusingly at his snowy owl outside the window and opened it for her. She flew in and Harry took the parcel off of her leg.

Harry found a treat stowed in his pocket from the morning and gave it to his companion. She gave him a thankful nudge before flying out the window.

"Harry, what's that?" Hermione asked having calmed down finally.

Harry shrugged and slowly opened it.

Immediately he opened the letter and recognized the handwriting.

"Who's it from Harry?" Ron asked walking over to him and peering at the letter from behind him.

Harry looked up with a smile faltering on his face:

"It's from Sirius."