Gray Skies

You're off with her again.

You keep telling me you are just friends,

But as the weeks turn into months,

And as the minutes turn into hours,

I know you are deceiving me.

You come back through the portrait hole,

And beckon me to come forth.

"Hermione,"

You say,

"Hermione lets go outside."

You're crazy!

It's freezing out,

And it looks as if it's about to snow.

There are clouds everywhere.

You don't care.

You tell me to follow you.

I tell you to wait.

I retrieve my cloak from my room,

As well as a pair of blue mittens you gave me for Christmas last year.

You begin leading the way,

Past the Quidditch Pitch,

Past the Great Lake,

To a tiny little patch of Eden.

You take off your cloak and lay it on the ground.

I tell you to put it back on,

"You'll catch a cold."

You don't listen to me.

You tell me it's not that cold out,

And that it doesn't matter.

"I can always get some pepper-up potion from Madam Pomfrey."

You laugh and lay down on the right side of the cloak.

You put your arms over your chest,

And gaze at the sky.

I ask what you are looking at.

You just laugh and say,

"The sky of course."

Why?

It's just gray.

Plus there are clouds everywhere.

It's so....boring.

You roll your eyes and tell me to lie down.

I hesitate,

But comply with your wishes,

"Now look up."

I do,

"It's just the sky."

"Just the sky?" you ask me

"No," I reply

"It's not just the sky. It's the atmosphere. The troposphere to be exact."

That's not what you meant.

"What else is it?"

I pause...

What do you mean what else is it?

"Well, it's made up of about 78% Nitrogen..."

You don't respond so I continue,

"And 21% Oxygen. There is Ozone. And varied amounts of water vapor."

You laugh at me.

That's also not what you meant.

I begin to grow impatient.

"Just look at it Hermione, it's beautiful."

So I look.

And look.

And look.

It must be an hour later before I speak again,

"I can't feel my toes. I get it already, it's the sky."

"It's not just the sky. You don't get it. Just give me ten more minutes."

"Fine. Ten minutes. But after that I'm going inside."

Five minutes pass.

I don't see anything.

"Harry?"

"Yes Hermione?"

"Do you love her?"

"Who?"

"You know who."

"No and to be quite honest, she's starting to get on my nerves."

I look at the sky,

Harry's right,

...I guess...

They do kind of look pretty from down here.

"Hermione?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Do you love him?"

"Who?"

"Ron."

"Of course I love him."

"Oh."

"He's my best friend."

"Oh"

Come to think of it,

The more I look at the sky,

The more beautiful it looks.

"Harry?"

"Yes Hermione?"

"I can't feel half my body."

"Are you a witch or not?"

Right.

I cast a warming spell.

"Hermione?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Lets go inside."

"Harry?"

"Yes Hermione?"

"Lets stay for a while. The sky is really beautiful when you look at it right."