Harry tumbled out of the floo with his usual grace. That's to say on his ass facing the wrong way. With a groan he stood up and dusted himself off. Two elves popped into the room before quickly popping away.

Before he could doing anything else the door to the room opened allowing Mrs. Greengrass entry.

"Ah Harry you're back rather soon. Did everything go well?" She asked

The door slammed open interrupting any answer he may have given. Daphne stormed into the room foregoing any decorum. Stomping up to Harry she grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the room.

"And where do you think you're going little lady?"

Her mothers voice stopped her cold. Harry's hand suddenly felt scalding hot in her own. Her face blushed at the memory of their discussion earlier.

Daphne couldn't have dropped Harry's hand any faster if she tried.

Harry gave a small frown at the loss. For some reason he felt content holding hands with Daphne. And the sudden loss showed him just how much he liked it. While he knew he found Daphne attractive he wasn't sure he was interested in a relationship yet.

"If you don't mind Daphne I wish to speak to Harry about some things regarding the whole goblin time room and your tutors. You can come for him in a bit ok." Tora said

"Very well mother." Daphne meekly replied no turning around due to her embarrassment

"Don't worry about it Harry, she's fine. Just be patient with her, emotions were never her strongsuit. That being said, come there's much I wish to discuss."

"If you're sure ma'am." Harry replied following her to her office

-tge-

Dumbledore was rather stressed. The disappearance of Ms. Greengrass had apparently been solved. He was informed that the girl was with her mother. Normally this information would be great and it was. It meant that Tora Greengrass was no longer breathing down his neck.

His main dilema was that Mr. Potter had still not been found. He thought to the prophecy. Dumbledore personally didn't put any stock in it. He had been around a very long time, studied alot of magic. He knew that the actual prophecy matter little.

But he also knew that Voldemort was only focused on the prophecy. As much as he hated it Dumbledore had to plan accordingly treating it as if Harry was the prophesied one. In a small sense Dumbledore was glad Harry was missing. Should Voldemort arise he would solely focus on finding Harry.

His biggest worry about Harry being missing was the tournament. Should he not show for the second task the goblet will strip him of his magic no matter where he may be. He had an emergency plan should Harry not be found by February 1st.

-tge-

Hermione and Ron were tired. A full week without Harry made them realize several things. The first being how much Harry mediated their arguments. The second being that they didn't really have any friends outside Harry.

Sure one could argue that Ron had all his siblings but he didn't figure they counted. It only took a couple days of unresolved arguing for Ron to be fed up. He sought out Hermione in the library.

"Hermione do you have a moment?" Ron asked

"Very well Ronald. What is it?"

Ron gave a sigh at her tone. He could tell it was a mix of annoyance at being interrupted as well as annoyance at him.

"Can we go somewhere else first?"

"Fine."

With that the two made there way to an unused room on the 4th floor. Once inside Hermione promptly sat down and looked at Ron expectantly.

"Look I've come to realize the you and I aren't nearly as good of friends with each other as we are with Harry. And that bugs me. And I know Im not perfect but-. Look what I'm trying to say is that I'd like for us to be closer without needing Harry all the time."

Hermione was a bit surprised at Ron's show of emotion. It wasn't that he had them it was that he had expressed them so clearly. She then thought about what he said. Such a revelation caused her to think deeply.

Were Ron and her the best of friends? No. Did she want that to change? Yes. Did that fact that Ron had such a thought before her bug her? Yes. Did it make her doubt her social maturity? Very much so. She concluded that if Ron could have such a profound revelation and have the courage to act upon it maybe he was more mature than she gave him credit for. She also concluded that maybe she wasn't as mature as she liked to think.

"You're right."

"What?"

"I said you're right. It bugs me that we can't seem to get along without Harry here acting as a mediator. It also bugs me that you had such a profound revelation about our friendship before I did. That being said I'm willing to compromise. Should time provide we will spend an hour a day studying then an hour mingling with our peers. Or relaxing as you always put it." Hermione offered

Ron thought about her offer. Put up with an extra hour of school stuff but then Hermione would loosen up and relax. He'd take that deal any day of the week.

"You want to make a schedule for it?" Ron teased

"Actually that's a wonderful idea. It'll really help us as we adjust to our new dynamic." Hermione gushed

Ron merely chuckled to himself. Things were looking up. Sure Harry was still gone but Hermione was still here and he didn't want to lose her too.

an: apologies for the delay, ive had some nasty writers block in progressing the story to where i want it to go. ive probably rewritten what feels like such a small and worthless chapter like 12 different times. this was the one i was happiest with and posted before i could change my mind.