“Has anyone seen Ron or Hermione?” Harry asked out loud after entering the common room. He wondered to himself why he had used the word ‘or’, assuming they could have possibly separated from each other for a single moment.
“They’re upstairs in our dormitory,” muttered Seamus, who was glaring down at his Defense against the Dark Arts essay, which was still 6 inches short of its required length.
Harry left the grumbling Seamus to his essay and went upstairs to find Ron and Hermione. After thinking about it all that morning, he decided he had to talk to someone about Katie and whatever it was he had been feeling towards her lately. Ron and Hermione had been the clear choice of people to get relationship advice on, for obvious reasons other than the fact they were his best friends.
Harry made quite a procedure of stepping loudly outside the room, making sure he had plenty of trouble with the door handle, and opening the door as slowly as possible “ he didn’t want to walk in on anything if he could avoid it. By the time he had finally entered the room, Hermione and Ron were looking at him, very calm, trying not to laugh.
“Have a bit of trouble getting in, mate?” Ron grinned.
“Er...yeah - slippery handle.”
“Harry “ we were just talking...” Hermione said.
“Oh “ right. Ummm, anyway,” he said. “I was wondering if I could talk to the both of you. About Katie.”
“What about Katie,” asked Ron.
“Well “ I’m not sure...lately I’ve been feeling...er “ I don’t know. I think that I “ well I don’t know... I was just “ wondering, really...”
“What did I tell you, Ronald?” Hermione said after Harry’s ramblings had finally trailed off.
“Yeah “ I had a feeling you were right...” Ron replied.
“What are the two of you on about?” Harry asked.
“Well, it’s obvious Harry...you’re clearly starting to develop more mature feelings for Katie “ and now you’ve come to us, because you want to know just how strong those feelings are. You want to confirm what you already think is true.”
Harry stared at Hermione suspiciously.
“Have you been studying Legilemency?” he asked, not even sure if he was kidding or serious.
Hermione laughed.
“Harry, you’re giving yourself a lot of credit if you think I need to learn Legilemency to read your emotions “ you’re practically an open book...”
“Yeah, mate “ even I can see it. And I have the emotional range of a ‘teaspoon’ “ right Hermione?”
“Well, I’m glad the two of you find this funny,” Harry said angrily.
“Oh calm down, Harry,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. “Do you love, Katie?”
“What!? “ no I don’t “ well maybe. I don’t know.”
“Do you care about her?” Hermione asked.
“Well, of course “ you already know that...”
“When you’re with her do you feel like you’re the only two people in the world, and as long as she’s with you, everything will be okay...” Ron said softly, gazing at Hermione the entire time.
“You’re not helping, Ron...” Harry said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, right...” Ron said, pulling his eyes from Hermione. “Okay “ what I meant to say is, when I’m with Hermione, she really does make me feel like everything’s going to be all right. She knows just what to say to make me feel better. She makes me feel calmer “ and I know that I would never want anything bad to happen to her. I wake up every morning looking forward to seeing her, and I don’t want to imagine life without her...”
Harry was amazed. He wasn’t aware that Ron could ever be so adept at talking about his feelings. And not only that “ but he had described exactly how Harry felt about Katie. Harry processed all of this as Hermione gave Ron a huge kiss of gratitude; then she turned to Harry.
“Harry “ are you in love with Katie?” she asked earnestly.
Harry paused for a minute, then gulped.
“Yeah “ yeah. I think I am,” he said.
“Then tell her.”
Easier said than done, Harry thought.
When Harry went downstairs, he found Katie sitting in an armchair doodling on a piece of parchment. His stomach did a little flop, and Harry realized that, despite the fact that he was sickeningly nervous, he was still elated to see her.
“Hey, Katie,” he said.
“Harry...Hi,” she said a bit awkwardly.
“Listen, Katie. I’m really sorry about last night “ I was just trying to figure something out “ and I think I understand it all now “ and well...I really need to talk to you.”
He tried to swallow, but it was very difficult considering that his heart felt as though it was, for some strange reason, now in his throat.
“Okay, sure,”
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said, grabbing her hand.
“What’s going on, Harry?” Katie asked as they exited the common room.
“Remember before the holidays, when you asked me how I felt about you and I said I cared about you...”
“Yes...” she said.
“Well “ um...things have changed a bit since then. And “ well, this is hard to say. Katie “ I think...”
He stopped. Katie had started crying. Harry wasn’t sure what to do.
Why on earth is she crying? He thought, scared out of his wits, remembering Cho...
“What’s wrong?” he said putting his arm around her.
“I had a feeling this was coming “ you’ve been distant lately. And you haven’t been able to talk to me... I should have known. Harry, if you want to break up with me, it’s okay “ just get it over with,” she said in a muffled voice, owing to the fact that she had her hands over her crying face.
“You think I’m breaking up with you?” Harry asked, totally confused as to where she had gotten this idea. She looked up at him, her eyes red, face splotchy.
“You’re not?”
“No! Of course not... I just wanted to tell you “ well...”
Katie waited, silent.
“I love you, Katie.”
Harry felt as though his lungs had emptied themselves of oxygen for the last time as he exhaled with the words. He could not believe it. He, Harry Potter, had told a girl that he loved her. It was as though he had entered a kind of alternate reality... he inhaled as silently he could, then held his breath “ unable to let it go, waiting in trepidation for her to say something. Finally, she smiled.
“I love you, too.”
Harry let out a long deep breath. Katie laughed.
“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions...”
“I’m sorry for being an idiot and making you think I was going to break up with you...”
“I’ll forgive me if you give me one of those nice, long kisses...” she said grinning.
Harry obliged to her request. Then he looked at her seriously.
“There’s some stuff I need to tell you “ if we’re going to be serious and all. I really want you to know...”
“Alright, go ahead.”
“You told her everything?”
“Yep.”
“About the prophecy?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She cried a little. She was scared for me, you know. Usual girlfriend stuff.”
He was answering her very unenthusiastically. Hermione finally stopped asking questions, Harry thought perhaps because she had finally run out of things to ask, but then he realized, with a happy hop in his stomach, that it was because Katie had sat down beside them. She greeted him with a kiss that was quite reminiscent of Ron and Hermione.
“Good morning,” she said, smiling.
“Morning,” he replied, grinning back at her.
“What’d you do last night?” she asked.
“Went for a walk...told this girl I loved her...” he said.
“Really? Wow “ how mature of you. I think you’re finally growing up, Potter.”
“The two of you are really strange, do you know that?” said Ron, staring at them as though he feared for their mental health. Harry and Katie just laughed.
“We’ve got nothing on you and Hermione,” Harry said raising his eyebrows, just as Hedwig came fluttering down onto the table, with a small piece of parchment tied to her leg. Harry unrolled it casually, and read it. His face went pale.
“What is it Harry?” Hermione asked,
“He’s back,” Harry said quietly.
“Who?” asked Ron and Katie together.
“Snape.”