Chapter 9 - Places of Interest
From the Room of Requirements, Harry headed back the way he came. He was going back to the hospital wing, though he wasn’t too sure that Madame Pomfrey would let him in, after the problems he had caused earlier.
No matter how slowly he walked, found himself standing outside the hospital door sooner then he had wanted to. He turned the handle to go inside and set one foot in. Just as he had expected, Madame Pomfrey came hurriedly to the door.
“Out. Your friend needs his rest.” And with that, she shut the door, leaving Harry standing there. Head down, he headed back to the common room. He couldn’t get the pictures of the three of them out of his mind. He really needed to talk with Ron, and he knew just how to do it.
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From the hospital wing, Hermione had absentmindedly headed up to the Astronomy Tower. She sometimes went there when she needed to be alone and knew that Ron and Harry would never expect to go looking for her there.
As she sat on the ledge looking out the window at the snow frosted grounds, the memories of the past five years came back to her. She remembered the first time she met Harry and Ron on the Hogwarts Express. She had been a showoff, and she knew it.
She thought back on all the dangers that they had faced together. And Harry most of all. He had so much more dangers ahead of him. Voldemort was now back and was gaining strength. She was so worried for him.
Hermione didn’t know how long she sat there looking back on the past, but she didn’t care. All she cared about at the moment was not losing Ron, or Harry, as friends. They had been through too much together.
She sat there looking out the window, watching students out in the grounds, building snow people or skating on the ice. She wished that’s where she could be right now. Out there laughing and having a great time. But she wasn’t. She was caught between her two best friends.
After a while, she got down of the ledge and began to head out of the tower. She felt better. She knew now what she wanted and she went to go find it.
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Back in the common room, Harry took a seat by the fire. It was deserted, except for a few third years who were playing chess. Everyone else was outside enjoying the snow. He was glad it was empty.
For some time he sat there, watching the flames dance. Then he felt soft hands cover his eyes.
“Guess who,” the voice said. Harry knew who it was. He took hold of the hands and found himself face to face with Hermione.
“Are you ok?” Harry asked.
“Yes, I feel much better. I just needed some time to clear my head and do some thinking.” Her voice was calm and steady, “are you ok Harry?”
“I think so. When I left I ended up going to the Room of Requirements,” he said in a lowered voice, “when I walked in, there were pictures everywhere. They were of us, Hermione, we were laughing and we looked so happy. I don’t want to lose any of that.”
“Me too Harry. I don’t know what I would do without you both.” She grabbed Harry and pulled him into a big hug.
“Let’s go get some dinner,” Harry said. Hermione laughed and let go of Harry.
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Dinner was long over and everyone had gone to bed. Quietly Harry slipped out of bed and grabbed his invisibility from the trunk at the foot of his bed. Slowly he made his way down the hall to the hospital wing.
He silently opened the door and looked around, making sure there was no one in site. He crept to where Ron’s bed was and poked him.
“Huh, what. Who’s there?” Ron said, waking up. His red hair was going out in every direction and he rubbed his eyes sleepily.
“It’s me, I’m under my cloak,” Harry whispered.
“Oh, it’s you, what do you want,” Ron whispered back, a cold tone in his voice.
“I need to talk to you, but not here. Are you able to get away?”
“Sure, this had better be important though.”
Ron slipped under Harry’s cloak and Harry lead them out of the wing. An awkward silence followed them the whole way to the place where Harry was taking them to.
Finally they arrived to their destination. Harry turned the handle for the second time that day. The door to the Room of Requirements swung open, revealing the smiling faces once more.
Harry slid the cloak off them and saw the look on Ron’s face. His mouth was hanging in an O and his eyes were wide.
“What in the world““ Is all he got out.
Harry walked over and took a seat on the brown couch. He watched Ron walk around the room.
“It’s us Ron. I don’t want to lose any of it.”
“Me neither Harry, but what about Hermione. Do you love her?” Ron demanded.
Harry nodded slowly. Ron slumped down on the couch next to him.
“I guess I knew this was coming. I don’t know why I was so shocked. It will be different between us, you know that right,” Ron said with a defeated tone in his voice.
“I know. But I love her, I really do. There’s nothing I can change. I’m really really sorry that I hurt you because I know I did.”
“It’s ok, I’ll get over it. But promise me one thing, please don’t kiss or do anything like that in front of me for a while. It’s way too weird”
Harry laughed, “sure, all right, I’ll try not to.”
The two of them sat there for a while longer, and soon they were laughing like old times.
After about an hour or so Ron said, “I should probably be getting back. I don’t want to even think about the look on Madame Pomfrey’s face if I wasn’t in my bed when she came to check on me.”
“All right, let’s go,” Harry said, picking up the cloak and putting it over the two of them.
Once Ron was back in his bed, Harry headed up to his own bed, in the best mood he had been in for the past few days.
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A/N - You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews I'm getting. If you think anything needs to be changed or have any suggestions for me, I'm all ears (just so long as it's not "make the chapters longer", because I'm not going to go and rewrite the story). Now go out there and review this chapter!
-Jaislin