He ran a hand angrily through his hair and turned back to where a frightened looking Hermione and a worried looking Ron still stood. “You,” he said, pointing at Hermione, “I don’t know what has come over you, but if that is your take on how the war is going then I think you are in the wrong house and should think about leaving. We don’t need people here who have already lost any hope of victory over Voldemort.”
Harry’s voice shook. He had spent most of his summer so far trying to avoid thinking about Voldemort and how their paths were destined to cross in the cruellest of ways at some point in the future. He still hadn’t told his friends about the prophecy, and after Hermione’s little outburst, he realised that he wouldn’t be telling them either. This was something that he was going to have to deal with on his own after all.
He quickly left the room and went to his bedroom to cool down. His anger had given way to dismay and shock. Hermione had always been so positive, even in the face of despair. What had made her change so much?
Harry hadn’t wanted to think or talk about the Order or Voldemort. He found that coping with everything else in Grimmauld Place left little room for worrying about the future. The sick twisty feeling he got every time someone mentioned the efforts the Order were making didn’t help the situation. Harry needed time, yet he had no way of knowing how much time he had until he would be forced to face Voldemort again.
He knew the others found his lack of interest strange, but his current grief, combined with being back in Grimmauld Place made it impossible for him to actively seek information. Some things were just too fresh in his memory. He couldn’t move on yet and start preparing for the future battle.
When Harry had finally calmed himself and returned to help the others again, Hermione was nowhere in sight. Ginny whispered to him that she had gone downstairs to help Mrs. Weasley. Harry didn’t respond. Even the mere mention of her name was causing his ire to rise again. Harry didn’t discuss the row with Ron. He had expected Ron to berate him for getting so physically angry with Hermione, but he didn’t.
Ron just looked worried most of the time. He talked in a low voice to Harry about the Order and what they were doing. Harry had noticed that Ron only tended to bring up the Order in conversation when Hermione wasn’t around. However this was rare. Wherever Hermione was, Ron tended to be there too.
The week wore on and Harry continued to watch Hermione. She seemed edgy and more than once was found to be missing when she was supposed to be helping Harry and Ginny with some of their jobs. When Harry complained to Ron that Hermione didn’t seem to be pulling her weight, Ron would immediately go to find her. After some time they would eventually return to the others. Ron would look pale and angry and Hermione, a little put out too.
Harry wondered at times how Ron was holding his patience with her at all. She was nothing short of rude towards him, and some of her sniping remarks were very hurtful. Harry could see by the look on Ron’s face that the vocal barbs hit the spot nine times out of ten. If it weren’t for the fact that Harry didn’t want to initiate an argument with Hermione himself, he would have told her long ago that her attitude was out of order. However Harry feared that is his anger was piqued again, he may not have as much luck controlling it as he had previously. His emotions were all over the place, and he felt that it would be potentially disastrous to let them spiral out of control.
Harry was no closer to deciphering the whispered voices and what they were referring to. He found himself noting each warning on a piece of parchment and studying them at night when he went to bed. He still suffered from dreams about the library upstairs, but was managing through the skills he had learnt as part of Legilimency to actually empty his mind enough so that he wasn’t as prone to dreaming. If he found himself wandering to the third floor, his subconscious would immediately begin to wake him before he made it as far as the open library door.
When this happened, Harry would invariably wake with a jump, sweating, his heart beating wildly. Unlike the time he had dreamt of the corridor and door in the Department of Mysteries, Harry felt no curiosity pulling him into the library this time. He knew what lay there and couldn’t bear the thought of seeing Sirius, of hearing Sirius speak to him like he had done in the last nightmare.
Harry felt very much alone. Ron was preoccupied with Hermione, even though he wouldn’t admit it. Hermione had become even more distant since their last argument and didn’t attempt to engage with Harry at all. Even Ginny didn’t have a lot to say to him. She wasn’t openly aggressive (which, Harry reasoned, she had every right to be.). She just quietly got on with her work. Harry was sincerely sorry for the kiss he had initiated, it seemed to have just pushed him further away from Ginny and that was the last thing he wanted.
Ginny found herself keeping a close eye on Harry. She had been on the receiving end of his anger once, and didn’t want it to happen again. She had witnessed the altercation between himself and Hermione and had to admit that Harry had held his temper in check admirably. She had heard every word of what Hermione had said, and knew that had she been in his place, she would have found it very hard to resist slapping some sense into Hermione.
As it was Ginny and she did not talk much anymore. Ginny found it hard to understand, she and Hermione had been so close. They used to discuss everything together.. Now, they shared nothing in common but the same bedroom.
A day or so after the argument between Harry and Hermione, he found himself once again working with Ginny and Hermione on the second floor. Ron was helping his mother move some furniture downstairs. Once again, when Harry looked around he found Hermione missing in action. ‘Typical,’ he thought bitterly.
Just then Ron arrived back to join the others, his eyes sweeping the room, searching for Hermione. He sighed and turned to leave. Harry didn’t need to ask where he was going. He knew that he would return a few minutes later with Hermione in tow. Harry continued with his work, half listening to the sounds of Ron’s footsteps leading away from the room along the corridor. He was snapped into awareness however on hearing the first step of a stairway creak. Harry tensed.
Ron was going upstairs to the third floor.