A/N: It has been a while so I think it's time I re-entered the world.
"I'm fine, really," Seamus voice rang out through the hospital wing several hours later. Hermione ignored the boy's insistence, for the umpteenth time, and continued her stream of apologies. She'd never intended for anyone to actually get hurt, not even the Slytherin whose fear of heights they'd been toying with, much less an innocent bystander. "I understand. It was an accident," Seamus repeated, clenching his hands into the blanket he didn't really need but Hermione had insisted he use anyway. Harry frowned at his tone. The Irish boy was starting to get frustrated and for someone as happy-go-lucky as Seamus, it generally took a lot to push him that far.
"Hermione," Harry called, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder as he interrupted another heartfelt apology, "maybe you should go check up on the twins. They've been on their own for a while now..." he trailed off suggestively. Hermione stared at him blankly for a moment, then her eyes widened, as if realizing all the trouble the two could accomplish when left to their own devices, and she shot from the chair, hardly taking the time to excuse herself from the others before leaving the room a too brisk walk, as close to a jog as Harry had ever seen her when her life wasn't on the line. Ron followed behind with his hands in his pockets and ears burning red with shame. He wasn't much for apologies after all, and Hermione had been pushing him for one for the last half hour.
Seamus sent him a thankful look and shoved the blankets back from his legs, standing as soon as the doors closed. "I kept telling them I wasn't hurt," he muttered, stretching his arms above his head. And he wasn't. It was a wizards' school after all and it would take more than a hundred and thirty pound third year falling from the sky to take out Seamus Finnegan anyway. "They just would not listen."
Harry shook his head. "You know Hermione. Once she figures something's her fault, she'll never let it die." He helped Seamus find his bag, which had been kicked under the bed by some over-eager visitor or other and walked with the other boy to the door, calling out a farewell to Madame Pomfrey, who replied from somewhere in the stockrooms, and waving politely to the acrophobic Slytherin, still curled in a ball beneath the crisp white bedsheets. He hadn't expected a reponse and so wasn't bothered that he didn't get one. "I'm just glad she forgot about Snape." The dark professor had swooped, seemingly out of nowhere, to take charge of the situation immediately after the Slytherin's fall, ordering students to take both him and Seamus to the hospital ward before grabbing each twin by the ear in a grip Harry was sure Mrs. Weasley would admire and dragging the much protesting pair to the dungeons for a very long and torturous detention.
"Well, at least I can milk this for the next few days. 'Oh, Hermione, I know we covered this in class but I just can't seem to remember it. Could you give us a hand?'" Seamus said, voice sounding horribly pathetic and grinned when Harry just laughed. "Think she'll go for it?"
"It's worth a shot," Harry replied, though he didn't quite agree with the method. But he'd thought that this war should have been over long ago, so he wasn't about to stop Seamus from getting just a little bit of revenge, especially the harmless kind. He stood straight at the loud clattering that came from around the corner, as if someone had just run into one of the many suits of armor that stood around the castle and breathed a sigh of relief when Dean, looking well into a state of panic, hopped into view, viciously kicking at helmet that clung stubbornly to his foot.
When he finally disconnected it, after many curses, he started forward again, skidding to a halt only a step from Seamus. Dean leaned on his knees, breathing heavily for a moment and Harry judged by the sweat on his brow that he run quite a distance, before crying out, "I'm so sorry! I was finishing up the set and no one told me what happened. I should've..." Whatever he should have was lost in Seamus' shoulder as the boy threw his arms around Dean's neck.
Part of Harry was glad that his friend was so happy, his face lit up like Christmas morning. He could tell the entire time they'd been sitting in the hospital wing that that Seamus had been waiting for this someone in particular. The rest of him, however, was verging on jealousy and he refused to let his own problems ruin a moment between his friends. So he called good-bye, not that he thought the two actually noticed, and turned away, strolling off on his own.
Harry enjoyed wandering the castle at night, more so after curfew and with his trusty cloak, but he could make do, even with a few other students moving about and the sun still partially visible. There always seemed a hall he'd never explored or a painting he'd never seen, and uncovering the mysteries of the school, with or without his map, had always been a pleasant and worry-free way to pass his rare minutes of free time. He was a bit irritated when his walk was interrupted, but since it was Draco Malfoy's voice he heard moving toward him, he reined it in and ducked quickly into the shadows behind a large statue that looked suspiciously like Grawp. That rejection had hurt, even more than he'd confessed to Lisa, and he still didn't feel like facing the other boy just yet, regardless of her advice.
"What a ridiculous thing to say," a voice Harry recognized as belonging to Pansy Parkinson was scolding the boy as they moved closer to the statue, stopping a few paces away at a window where the waters of the lake, rippling the reds and golds of a spectacular sunset that none of the three present paid any mind to could be seen.
"What was I supposed to do? It wasn't what I needed, Pansy darling," Draco replied and Harry chanced a peek between the statue's legs. He was leaning, as Harry had seen so often in their lessons room, against the edge of the sill, arms crossed over his chest as he focused all his attention on the girl by his side.
Pansy shook her head, brushing her fingers absently through her dark hair. "Hmm. Have you spoken with Turpin yet?" Harry's ears pricked at Lisa's name. Why would a pair of Slytherins, even this pair, have anything to do with a Ravenclaw?
"Of course not," Draco snapped. "It's too soon to resort to directness, isn't it. No, a situation as delicate as this one requires a bit more patience. She will come to me in her own time." He pushed himself from the wall, dusting his hands together as he strolled away.
Pansy rolled her eyes, and Harry got the feeling that if she thought it was in the least elegant, or at all Slytherin in nature, she would have thrown her hands up in exasperation. "You've been around that cursed Gryffindor for too long, dear. You're catching his stubbornness," she scolded as she followed Draco down the hall, both unaware of the boy sitting on his knees in the shadows.
It was a good thing too, as far as Harry could tell. Slytherins tended to attack someone just at his lowest moment and Harry supposed he couldn't get much lower. Maybe it was the little bit of Slytherin in his nature, or all the time he'd spent with Draco, but Harry could tell what was going on. Draco was in love with Lisa. It was the only reason he'd be talking about the Ravenclaw, and directness and delicate situations. And even if Lisa was too much in love with her own Romeo to even care, it meant that Harry didn't even have a chance.
Harry turned a bit, dropping to sit with his knees curled to his chest and letting his head rest back against the statue's base. He took deep calming breaths, struggling against the tightness in his chest.
He missed his opportunity. And Lisa was right. It pretty much sucked.
A/N: I think this turned out well for a few hours' work. It was a little sad though, so I had to stop. A depressed Harry makes me blue. Thanks to DarkWiccanPrincess, LyricallyInspired, AlineDaryen, supercoolfreak, October in a Box, brionyjae, AnimeFreak2468, Ibbet, Hoppipollamia, globalfaerie, Horseygirl7, boredom is a crime, SunshineAndDaisies, Strawberry-Green-Girl (x7 (whew!)), Thenchick, -Rosannah-, purplerawr, Lady-Umbreon, and SexySpeedDemon for all the reviews. I appreciate them! Really!