This chapter will have dialogue and snippets from my fic Twelve Kisses.

Chapter 143: Brooding And Kisses

"Are you alright, Harry, dear?" whispered Mum, leaning across Ginny to speak to him as the train rattled along through its dark tunnel. "You don't look very well. Are you feeling sick?"

Harry shook his head violently and stared up at an advertisement for something called home insurance. He looked as if he didn't want to talk to anyone. And I didn't blame him.

"Harry, dear, are you sure you're all right?" said Mum in a worried voice, as we walked around the unkempt patch of grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place. "You look ever so pale ... are you sure you slept this morning? You go upstairs to bed right now and you can have a couple of hours of sleep before dinner, all right?"

He nodded and did as he was told.

I followed Mum to the kitchen, not really knowing what to do with myself. I wanted not talk to Harry, but I knew at this time, he wouldn't listen to a word I would have had to say.

One thing that I hated that Harry did was brood. When he felt as if he couldn't deal, he would go and close everybody off, not wanting to speak, not wanting to do anything. I figured it was a habit he had formed growing up with his horrible relatives who probably dismissed any feeling he had, so he bottled them up, having no one to express them to.

I wanted to tell him that it was different now. That he had me and my family in his corner. It didn't matter what You Know Who did to him. He would always have us.

A couple of hours later, Mum sent me to get Harry for dinner. I walked up to the bedroom and opened the door. Harry was laying in his bed, faking sleep. I could always tell.

"Harry," I said in a quiet voice knowing he could hear me, "Mum says dinners ready, but she'll save you something if you want to stay in bed."

I closed the door and went to eat. He didn't dome down for dinner, and when I returned to our room a couple hours later, he was actually asleep. I changed into my pajamas and went to sleep myself.

The next morning, everyone pitched in putting up Christmas decorations. Sirius was in a very good mood; he was actually singing carols, apparently delighted that he was to have company over Christmas. Harry stayed in his room, and didn't even show for lunch.

Around six o'clock in the evening the doorbell rang and Mrs. Black started screaming again. I went to open the door and couldn't believe my eyes.

"Hermione?" I said, trying to hide my sudden giddiness. "You're...what are you doing here?"

Hermione smiled as I moved aside to let her in. "Well, I wanted to come spend the holidays with you lot, if that's okay."

I gave her a smirk. "Are you sure you came to spend time? Or is it that you can't do that barmy skying thing."

"It's skiing, and yes." said Hermione in an annoyed voice. "Skiing is very fun, but I wanted to see what a wizard Christmas is like. Where's Harry?"

I pointed upstairs. "He's been in a right state since St Mungo's. He won't talk to anybody, and he hasn't eaten. You know how he gets. I don't even know what to do. He won't even look at me."

"He's being a broody little brat," said Ginny, coming out of a room and hugging Hermione. "It's starting to get pretty annoying actually. I'm actually thinking about hexing him to make him come back to life."

"Why?"

"Well, we listened in on Tonks, Moody, Mum, and Dad's conversation with the ears and they believe that Harry may have been possessed."

Ginny scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Oh, surely not," said Hermione in a matter of fact voice.

"Exactly how I feel," said Ginny.

"I'll go talk to Harry." Hermione said as she made her way up the stairs.

I hurried and told Mum about Hermione, who was delighted to hear that she was here. No one however, would be more excited to see her than I was. I felt like the holidays were going to be better now. Dad was okay, my best mates were altogether with my family, and it looked like it was going to snow. This was hopefully going to be a right nice Christmas.

Mum sent up sandwiches with me and Ginny, and we waited for Hermione and Harry to enter the room, which they did a few minutes later.

"I came on the Knight Bus," said Hermione as she came in, pulling off her jacket. "Dumbledore told me what had happened first thing this morning, but I had to wait for term to end officially before setting off. Umbridge is already livid that you lot disappeared right under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's and he'd given you all permission to visit. So ..."

She sat down next to Ginny, and the two girls and I all looked up at Harry.

"How're you feeling?" asked Hermione.

"Fine," said Harry stiffly.

"Oh, don't lie, Harry," she said impatiently. "Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St. Mungo's."

"They do, do they?" said Harry, glaring at Ginny and I. I looked down at my feet, now regretting telling anything, but Ginny seemed quite unbothered by Harry's stare.

"Well, you have!" she said. "And you won't look at any of us!"

"It's you lot who won't look at me!" said Harry angrily.

"Maybe you're taking it in turns to look, and keep missing each other," suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Very funny," snapped Harry, turning away.

"Oh, stop feeling all misunderstood," said Hermione sharply. "Look, the others have told me what you overheard last night on the Extendable Ears-"

'Yeah?" growled Harry, his hands deep in his pockets. "All been talking about me, have you? Well, I'm getting used to it."

"We wanted to talk to you, Harry," said Ginny, "but as you've been hiding ever since we got back-"

"I didn't want anyone to talk to me," said Harry crossly.

"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."

Harry turned toward Ginny, a stunned expression on his face.

"I forgot," he said as if he felt guilty.

That rubbed me the wrong way. He were the one who saved her, how could he forget?

"Lucky you," said Ginny coolly.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, his words ringing true. "So ... so, do you think I'm being possessed, then?"

"Well, can you remember everything you've been doing?" Ginny asked. "Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?"

"No."

"Then You-Know-Who hasn't ever possessed you," said Ginny simply. "When he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there."

"That dream I had about your dad and the snake, though-"

"Harry, you've had these dreams before," Hermione said. "You had flashes of what Voldemort was up to last year."

"This was different," said Harry, shaking his head. "I was inside that snake. It was like I was the snake ... what if Voldemort somehow transported me to London-?"

"One day," said Hermione, rolling her eyes, "you'll read Hogwarts: A History, and perhaps it will remind you that you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts. Even Voldemort couldn't just make you fly out of your dormitory, Harry."

"You didn't leave your bed, mate," I said, trying to help. "I saw you thrashing around in your sleep for at least a minute before we could wake you up."

Harry started pacing up and down the room, this time, looking very much relieved as he let everything we said sink in. He took a sandwich from the plate on the bed and crammed it hungrily into his mouth.

Later on, after some more lively singing from Sirius, the others went to bed. I however went to one of Sirius's drawing rooms and sat down, feeling like I wanted to be to myself.

A few minutes later, someone knocked and let themselves in. It was Hermione, carrying a teatray.

"I thought we could have some tea together but if you're not up for it.." she said in a low voice.

I quickly got up and helped her with the tray, taking it from her, setting it down on the table, and sitting back down. Hermione gave me a small smile and poured us both cups of tea. She prepared both cups. Honey in hers, four spoonfuls of sugar in mine. I felt myself blush as she remembered how I liked my tea.

The two of us sipped on the tea in silence. I didn't know where to start, and she seemed like she wanted to talk.

"I know you said that you didn't like to sky," I began. "But why did you really come? Not that I don't enjoy your company, of course."

Hermione looked down at her cup. "It's 'ski'. And because why wouldn't I? My best friend's father got seriously hurt. I would have felt like a complete git if I was off having fun and you were here feeling bad. And I kinda felt like... like maybe you needed me."

I smiled. "I did actually. And I appreciate you being here for me. You know how Harry is when he broods. It's hard to talk to him. And I don't want to do the same, so I'm glad I have you to talk to, if he decides to do it again."

Hermione blushed. I was happy that she wanted to be there for me. I only hoped that she would let me be there for her whenever she was going through something heavier than school. I wanted to always be there for her through thick and thin, and even thinner.

"I don't want to go back to school." I confessed.

"Why not?" asked Hermione, putting down her cup.

"I'm not ready for all the questions and shit that me and my siblings are gonna be bombarded with. I don't want to sit there and hear whatever fucked up lie Umbridge is gonna make up to justify what happened to my dad. I think I would stab her with her own blood quill." I said with a small smirk.

"Ronald, that's not nice." said Hermione with a tiny grin.

"If I stayed an extra week here, would you stay with me?" I asked looking into Hermione's deep and gorgeous brown eyes.

I watched as Hermione thought about the question. I felt as if I could read her mind. Impossible! This was OWL's year and she would want to get all the schooling in that she could get. No way would she jeopardize her grades for me.

"Of course I would. No question." said Hermione.

Her answer made me feel warmer than the small fire I had lit. I smiled brightly at her. I was starting to feel as if my stomach was doing flip flops, but in a good way. I felt as if he could fly on my own. It was at that moment that I knew that I could count on Hermione to be there for me, no matter what.

A sudden urge came over me. Something that I would usually try to ignore, but the fight was way too strong. I leaned over to Hermione and gave her a loving kiss on the cheek. Her soft skin felt wonderful on my lips, and as much as I would have loved to snog her senseless , I decided that this probably wouldn't be a good time. So I just left it at that.

"Goodnight Hermione." I whispered. I was too nervous about what I did to stick around, so I simply walked out of the room. But not before I heard Hermione whisper"Goodnight Ron," in return.

I awoke on Christmas morning to find a large stack of presents at the foot of my bed. I didn't waste any time jumping out of my bed and tearing into my gifts.

Hermione had gotten me a homework planner, something that would have been okay, if the barmy thing didn't yell out things like 'Do it today or later you'll pay!'

I sat it aside and opened up the gift marked from Harry. He had gotten me a broom compass, something that would really come in handy. Soon, I heard the creaking of Harry's bed and I knew that he had woken up

"Good haul this year," I told Harry as he stirred and looked over at me. "Thanks for the Broom Compass, it's excellent; beats Hermione's, she got me a homework planner."

Harry sorted through his presents and found that Hermione had given him one too. Well, at least we both got the same thing this time.

Harry had gotten a nice haul too, and was just looking over a drawing from Dobby, when, with a loud crack, Fred and George Apparated at the foot of his bed.

"Merry Christmas," said George. "Don't go downstairs for a bit."

"Why not?" I said.

"Mum's crying again," said Fred heavily. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper."

"Without a note," added George. "Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything."

"We tried to comfort her," said Fred, moving around the bed to look at Harry's portrait. "Told her Percy's nothing more than a humongous pile of rat droppings."

"Didn't work," said George, helping himself to a Chocolate Frog. "So Lupin took over. Best let him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast, I reckon."

"What's that supposed to be, anyway?" asked Fred, squinting at Dobby's painting. "Looks like a gibbon with two black eyes."

"It's Harry!" said George, pointing at the back of the picture, "says so on the back!"

"Good likeness," said Fred, grinning. Harry threw his new homework diary at him; it hit the wall opposite and fell to the floor where it said happily: "If you've dotted the "i"s and crossed the "t"s then you may do whatever you please!"

We got up and dressed. On their way downstairs we met Hermione.

"Thanks for the book, Harry," she said happily. "I've been wanting that New Theory of Numerology for ages! And that perfume's really unusual, Ron."

A month back, I had seen one of Ginny's Witch Weekly magazines. It had an ad in it that had a perfume that smelled differently to whoever smelled it, including the wearer. It would even change with how the wearer was feeling. I thought that it would be an interesting for Hermione, and a lot more mature to her than simply a box of candy or some other silly thing. I didn't realize it would be so interesting that I would have wanted to jump her in the hallway, as her smell was really turning me on.

"No problem," I said quickly, looking at the wrapped present she was carrying. "Who's that for, anyway?"

"Kreacher," said Hermione brightly.

"It had better not be clothes!" I warned her. "You know what Sirius said: Kreacher knows too much, we can't set him free!"

"It isn't clothes," said Hermione, "although if I had my way I'd certainly give him something to wear other than that filthy old rag. No, it's a patchwork quilt, I thought it would brighten up his bedroom."

"What bedroom?" said Harry, dropping his voice to a whisper as we were passing the portrait of Sirius's mother.

"Well, Sirius says it's not so much a bedroom, more a kind of-den," said Hermione. "Apparently he sleeps under the boiler in that cupboard off the kitchen."

Mum was the only person in the basement when we arrived there. She was standing at the stove and sounded as though she had a bad head cold as she wished us "Merry Christmas."

"So, is this Kreacher's bedroom?" I asked, walking over to a dingy door in the corner opposite the pantry.

"Yes," said Hermione, now sounding a little nervous. "Er ... I think we'd better knock."

I knocked on the small door, but there was no reply.

"He must be sneaking around upstairs," I said, pulling the door open. "Bloody hell!"

It almost looked like a cluttered birds nest, and it positively reeked. There were assorted rags and smelly old blankets and the small dent in the middle of it showed where Kreacher curled up to sleep every night. There were stale bread crusts and mouldy old bits of cheese. In a far corner glinted small objects and coins that I figured Kreacher had saved from Sirius's purge of the house, and he had also managed to retrieve the silver-framed family photographs that Sirius had thrown away over the summer. Their glass might be shattered, but still the little black-and-white people inside them sneering back at us, including some crazed looking woman with hair that rivaled Hermione's and looked completely unkempt.

"I think I'll just leave his present here," said Hermione, laying the package neatly in the middle of the depression in the rags and blankets and closing the door quietly. "He'll find it later, that'll be fine."

"You're a right sweet one you are, Mione," I said. "Especially to someone who doesn't deserve it."

"Come to think of it," said Sirius, emerging from the pantry carrying a large turkey as we closed the cupboard door, "has anyone actually seen Kreacher lately?"

"I haven't seen him since the night we came back here," said Harry. "You were ordering him out of the kitchen."

"Yeah ..." said Sirius, frowning. "You know, I think that's the last time I saw him, too ... he must be hiding upstairs somewhere."

"He couldn't have left, could he?" said Harry. _I mean, when you said "out", maybe he thought you meant get out of the house?"

"No, no, house-elves can't leave unless they're given clothes. They're tied to their family's house," said Sirius, causing Hermione to frown a little bit.

"They can leave the house if they really want to," Harry contradicted him. "Dobby did, he left the Malfoy's' to give me warnings two years ago. He had to punish himself afterwards, but he still managed it."

Sirius looked concerned. "I'll look for him later. I expect I'll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something. Of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died ... but I mustn't get my hopes up."

Fred, George and I laughed; Hermione, however, looked like she didn't find it funny at all.

Once we had eaten our Christmas lunch, we got ready to go visit Are again, this time escorted by Mad-Eye and Lupin. Mundungus turned up in time for Christmas pudding and trifle, having managed to get a car for the occasion, as the subway train didn't run on Christmas Day.

The car (which Harry and I agreed had to have been stolen) had been enlarged with a spell like Dad's old Ford Anglia had once been. Although normally proportioned outside, it sat ten people plus Dung very well. Mum wasn't too keen on the idea, however, with a bit of coaxing from Bill and the twins, she finally agreed to get into the car, and we set off for St Mungo's.