Track 12

Harry awoke the next morning to the stern face of Hermione Granger looming over him. "GAH!" he cried out, jumping. "'Mione, what are you doing in here?"

"I could ask you the same question," she replied snidely. Harry blinked at her in confusion.

"Hermione, this is my dormitory. I live here with..."

"Don't get smart with me, young man," Hermione snapped, apparently channeling Mrs. Weasley. "You should be in the Infirmary explaining to poor Ron what that little display of yours yesterday was about! Maybe you haven't noticed, but he's been in there in shock since yesterday afternoon, along with Neville, Colin, the majority of the Slytherin fifth and sixth years, and more than a few Hufflepuffs!" She crossed her arms and glared at him. "And why weren't you there last night? I would have thought that, with you two being such good friends and all, you would have checked on Ron right away! Harry James Potter, what has gotten into you?"

Harry at least had the common sense to look humbled - taking on Hermione in full wrath was worse than fighting off four Voldemorts, and generally a task he left up to Ron. "You're right, Hermione," he said quietly, sounding as thoroughly cowed as he could manage. "I don't know what I was thinking. It's just..." he trailed off with his most pathetic look on his face.

"Yes? What is it?" Hermione prodded in a slightly more controlled tone.

"Well, I really needed to talk to Remus and Sirius because..." He added in one of his best pitiful sniffles.

"Because?" Hermione asked, her arms uncrossing and her features softening to an expression of concern.

"Well, it's just that...I don't know how I'm going to explain this..." He squeezed a tear out of his eye and felt it roll down his cheek. Immediately, Hermione was sitting beside him on the bed, holding his hand. She always did have a weakness for 'pitiful' Harry.

"Explain what, Harry? What's wrong?" she asked gently.

Harry let out a deep, shuddering sigh. "I'm in love," he replied before burying his face in his hands to get a few sobs into the picture. He knew he should feel horrible, but this really was the only way to keep Hermione from lecturing him to death, and he was still rather upset about what had happened with Snape so he wasn't really tricking her by laying on the drama; he was just exaggerating a bit, that was all.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione breathed before pulling him into a hug. "You can stop the fake crying now, you know," she added flatly. Harry blushed and immediately sobered, pulling away from her.

"Too over the top, huh?" he asked, and Hermione smirked.

"Only because I almost never see you actually cry, and certainly not over something like this," she confirmed, then smacked his arm. "Don't try to trick me like that ever again! I was really getting worried..."

"Well, in my own defense, I did cry yesterday after the rehearsal, and in public, no less," Harry pointed out, then quietly added, "though I don't know why. But," he continued in his normal tone," I really am upset about this whole situation with Snape. That much was true." This time the troubled expression on his face was genuine, and Hermione's heart melted.

"Oh, Harry," she sighed. "But that still doesn't mean that you can just forget about Ron, you know," she persisted.

"I know. Let's go down and see him right away," he said, throwing the covers off of himself and standing up to reveal nothing but a pair of baggy green boxers hanging off his hips and threatening to slide off at any moment, held up only by the rather obvious erection he was sporting.

"Oh, God..." Hermione squeaked, quickly turning away. "Get dressed first!"

"Huh?" Harry replied intelligently, then looked down, blushed, and gave a small nervous laugh. "Ah, right. Could you, um...?"
"Of course!" Hermione squeaked again, and quickly hurried out of the boys' dormitory so Harry could get dressed.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to tell him this?" Harry asked for the seventeenth time since he and Hermione had left Gryffindor Tower.

"Well, you're going to have to tell him something, Harry. It's not every day that one sees one's best friend snogging his least favorite teacher in front of the whole student body," Hermione replied. "You might as well just be honest with him."

"He's not going to be very happy about this," Harry said, stopping short a few meters away from the door to the Infirmary. "What if he hates me for this?" he asked, turning to Hermione with a panicked look on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"He's not going to hate you, Harry," she repeated for the seventeenth time. "Now come on." She grabbed his arm and dragged him the rest of the way.

"Ron?" she quietly called out as they approached the red-head's bed. "Ron, are you awake?"

"Uh-huh," Ron replied, dazed. Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Ron, Harry's here. He wants to talk to you," she continued. Suddenly Ron shot bolt upright, grabbed Harry by the collar, and pulled him in so close that their noses were almost touching.

"Are you trying to kill me, Potter?" he hissed, before releasing the other boy and flopping back down. "Trying to give me a bloody heart attack..." he muttered. "Better have a damned good reason..."

Harry gulped and looked at Hermione. 'Well, go on!' she mouthed, gesturing to the clearly traumatized boy on the bed. Biting his lip, Harry took a seat in one of the chairs by Ron's bedside.

"Um, Ron?" he began nervously. His friend looked at him expectantly, and Harry had to swallow the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. His mouth went dry as he continued. "I have something I have to tell you..."

"You're WHAT?" Ron cried out after Harry told him the watered-down version of his feelings for Snape.

"I'm, um, attracted to him," Harry repeated. "Is...um...is that going to be a problem?"

But Ron couldn't respond as his brain had decided to do him a favor and just shut down for a while. Harry shot an accusing glare at Hermione.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea."