Blood (thicker than) Water (but what about) Lemonade?

Young and the Oblivious

"So," Avril sat down on Hermione's bed, pulling a very distraught Hermione down to sit beside her, "what happened? What's going on?"

Hermione swallowed and tried to calm herself.

"I was talking..." Avril leaned in earnestly as Hermione spoke, "... To Ron."

Avril sat back. "Oh. And?"

Hermione winced, reminiscing. "He wanted to know... If we could be more than friends," she finished lamely.

Avril nodded. "I see. And I take it you don't think that's possible?"

Hermione shook her head wildly.

"No! I mean, I thought I did, but then I thought, no! He's my friend! Ron is one of my best friends, and I can't ruin that with a makeshift relationship that's just going to crash and burn anyway!"

"Why would it do that?" Avril asked.

Hermione gave her an impatient look. "Because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I have become infamous for our arguments."

"What does that have anything to do with it?" Avril wasn't grasping the complication.

"We fight all the time!" Hermione said, tucking a leg underneath her, "over anything and everything! If I have an opinion, he disagrees and vice versa. It's fine now because we're just friends- we're supposed to argue, right? But I... I don't think I could handle it if we were more than that."

Avril nodded, understanding. "So you don't want to risk ruining something that's not that stable to begin with?"

"Exactly," Hermione said, burying her face in her hands.

Avril smiled and patted Hermione's shoulder. "Don't worry Hermione, all you have to do is tell Ron that-Hermione, what did you tell him?" She asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

Hermione shrugged, twirling a piece of hair around a finger. "I told him I couldn't."

"Couldn't what?"

"That I just couldn't." Hermione shrugged. She looked miserable.

Avril sighed, any thoughts of Harry now settling in the back of her mind. The gun had been forgotten. Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Hermione, you like him- Ron, don't you?"

Hermione looked up. "As a-?"

Avril nodded eagerly.

"I- I'm not sure. He's nice, I guess..."

Avril smiled and nodded again, recalling the previous year where a friend of hers had grudgingly admitted to liking a boy from another dorm in the same fashion that Hermione just had.

"And he definitely likes you, I mean, you ought to see the way he looks at you..." "Is it really that obvious?" Hermione asked with a small wince. "Clear as glass," Avril affirmed.

Hermione groaned.

"The point is, you're both obviously interested, and you're friends. You should be able to tell him about the things that bother you. Things like what you just told me. If he really cares, he'll try is damnedest to fix whatever is bugging you."

Avril's words seemed to have a positive impact on Hermione.

"You're right, Avril," Hermione stood up, "I should be able to talk to Ron. I will."

Avril fought to contain her joy as Hermione flung open the door and strode out of the room.

She followed the almost bouncing girl down the winding stairs and knocked into her as Hermione stopped dead at their foot.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, "where did you get that?"

Harry was holding the shiny black .45 in his hand and examining it closely. Ron was seated beside him, not looking too concerned about the gun's awesome ability to do harm but rather, looking interested and curious. Avril realized that this was because Ron, like her, had never seen a gun before.

The boys both heard Hermione and spun around, both red in the face.

Ron couldn't tear his eyes from Hermione.

Harry couldn't bear to look at Avril.
They both looked guilty, and Avril knew that it was because they hadn't been discussing the gun (well at least, not just the bun).

"Er, got it from Malfoy," Harry mumbled, moving over as Hermione sat beside him with a look of curiosity mixed with appropriate fear on her face.

"How?" Ron could only bring himself to ask one thing, feeling his throat tightening at the presence of Hermione in the room.

"Avril," Harry replied, managing to cast a small smile her way.

He felt strangely shy around Avril now that they had kissed. A part of him was eager to know her take on it, but another part was terrified of the response.

Hermione smiled. "How'd you manage that?"

Avril, seated across from them in an armchair, hugged her knees to her chest and began telling them about what had happened.

Hermione's eyes widened when Avril told her about how they had snuck into the Slytherin Common room without the aid of a Polyjuice potion.

"...and Malfoy got a little too close. Lucky, though, because that gave me a chance to grab the bag he had tucked away," Avril told them with a sneaky grin.

Harry felt the familiar swoop of anger descend upon him and he glanced at Ron in case it was obvious.

But Ron looked angry as well.

"What happened next?" Ron asked, forgetting about Hermione being in the room and his fear of saying something stupid in front of her.

Avril shrugged. "Snape came in and took Harry and I away. I guess you could say he rescued us."

Ron tightened his fist.

"That's right, because if Malfoy'd gotten any closer-" Ron made a violent movement with his fist.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Avril grinned.

"So, what're you going to do with it?" Ron asked, massaging his knuckles and oblivious to his friends' skepticism.

They both looked at each other.

"We're showing it to Dumbledore," Avril said.

All heads turned to her.

"Well, from what Harry's told me, this bun is really dangerous-"

"Gun," Hermione corrected.

"-gun! Right, well, it's dangerous, and if Malfoy's got one, you can almost be sure that Malfoy senior's got one too. Hell, all the Death Eaters might have them. Who knows? That's not even the half of it. Lucius Malfoy's been attacking Muggles, obviously, and Dumbledore needs to know this."

"Fine. We'll take it to him tomorrow." Harry agreed to this, and slipped the gun back into its bag.

Avril crossed her arms. "Why not now?" Tomorrow would have been fine, had Hermione not wanted to speak with Ron alone.

"Fine!" Harry stood up and drew the bag shut.

"You two coming?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione and Ron, each on his either side.

"Sure-"

"No!" Hermione cut Ron off quickly, smiling up at Harry. "You two go. I've got homework and... Ron needs to help me."

Ron looked bewildered. "But Hermione, since when-"

A glare from Hermione shut him up, although he still didn't have a complete idea what was going on.

Good old Ron, Avril thought as she exited the Common Room with Harry.

37

Reluctance

Avril and Harry walked together to Dumbledore's office.

Now that there was no Hermione/Ron problems for her to worry about (she chose to believe they were being solved upstairs right now), Avril's mind had converted straight back to the couch incident she had shared with Harry.

She hadn't had a lot of time to think about it, as Hermione had burst in and taken her away before she could even register most of it, and now it was playing over and over again in Avril's mind.

Why had he just kissed her like that? Why then? Why her?

Avril had always had a bit of a crush on Harry; he wasn't normal, and neither was she, as she always told herself, and therefore they deserved to be together.

She had thought about it so much that the reasoning soon became part of her, like the people, places and happenings of a series of books do when one has read them certain times over and over.

Then she was kidnapped. And Harry had saved her. And rather than grow stronger, the crush had been sucked down the drain.

Avril no longer felt the same stomach twisting crush she had hidden so well.

She and Harry had a bond. They were best friends.

This was important, and though it confused her sometimes, as the part of her who had asserted the reasons for them to be together had been so influential, Avril knew that their real relationship was a lot more beneficial to both of them.

Harry, however, did not seem to think so.

No matter what he told himself, Harry couldn't shake off his own descriptive adjectives concerning Avril that were forming in his mind.

He didn't know how Ron handled it all the time- constantly thinking about Hermione and wondering what they were thinking and if it was about them.

Harry chanced a sideways glance at Avril. She was holding the bag and gazing off into the distance as she walked, as if her mind was elsewhere.

They passed the gargoyle statue guarding Dumbledore's office and Harry doubled back.

"Er, Avril?"

Avril kept walking.

"Avril!"

Avril whirled around, looking confused.

"What?" Her face was slightly pink and she looked afraid that Harry'd been listening to her personal thoughts.

"Uh, Dumbledore's office is this way," Harry said, indicating the gargoyle.

"Oh, right," Avril said, following him.

Harry stopped dead. Once again, they had forgotten that they had no idea what the password was.

"Great," Avril muttered, "now what do we do?"

"Same as that one time, I guess," Harry replied, turning the corner, "sit down and wait for someone to come along."

Avril sighed impatiently and began to slide down the wall beside Harry.

Then the wall behind the Gargoyle slid open.
Avril poked her head around the corner and saw Malfoy leaving in the opposite direction.

She kicked Harry, who was on the floor.

"Go," she whispered, sprinting for the wall, which was closing.

With Harry close behind, Avril made it just in time onto the revolving staircase.

Harry pulled his arm through just as the wall slid closed.

With a relieved sigh, Avril stepped onto a stair and waited.

When they reached the office door, Avril knocked with one hand, the other clenched tightly onto the silky bag containing the gun.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice called pleasantly.

Avril opened the door and stepped aside for Harry, wanting him to go first.

Harry entered the room and smiled awkwardly.

"Er, hullo Professor," he said, trying to sound serious, though it was difficult to sound grim when Avril was hovering (apparently shy form the Headmaster) so close to him.

What was wring with Avril? Why was she being so timid?

"Hello, Harry, Miss Ardree," Dumbledore greeted them, beckoning them to sit opposite his desk.

They sank into the chairs.

"Now," Dumbledore put some parchment away in his desk, "what brings you here? And on such a lovely day, I might add," he said.

"Well sir, we-"

"Found something!" Avril exclaimed.

Harry looked at her in surprise. Why had she just lied?

"Oh?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrow, looking curious and amused. "And what might that be?"

Avril untied the drawstring on the bag and tipped it upside down.

The gun, still shiny and eerily 'mugglesque', slid onto the surface of the polished desk.

Dumbledore frowned.

"It's a-" Harry began,

"I know what it is, Harry," Dumbledore interrupted. "What I'd like to know is, where did you find it?"

Harry and Avril exchanged glances.

"Er, down in the dungeons," Avril blurted.

Dumbledore didn't ask why they had been down in the dungeons.

He took out his wand and muttered a few ineligible words.

The gun shot out a series of bullets, each about the speed of near-frozen tree sap, until its canister was empty.

Dumbledore closed his fingers around the bullets and dropped them onto his desk.

The gun remained suspended in midair.

"Uh, Sir?" Harry didn't like the look on Dumbledore's face. It was dark.

Dumbledore looked into his eyes and smiled suddenly.

"You say you found this in the dungeon corridors?"

Harry swallowed. "Er, that's right."

"Do you have any idea who may own it?"

Avril squirmed. "We think it's Draco Malfoy's."

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, we were sort of... In the Slytherin House." Harry had learned at an early year not to lie to Dumbledore. He knew it was always better that the Headmaster knew the whole truth.

Avril tensed. She was obviously not used to being in trouble, and tried to avoid it at all costs.

Either that or she was worried about what the Headmaster thought about her.

"I see." Dumbledore didn't look angry.

Harry soon found himself telling Dumbledore all that had happened, leaving out the details of Malfoy's apparent newfound interest in Avril.

"... So Avril stole it from him while he wasn't looking," Harry finished.

Dumbledore nodded.

"But you see what this means, don't you?" Avril suddenly burst out.

"The Malfoy's have gained access to dangerous Muggle weapons?" Dumbledore finished.

"Yes, I think I have a pretty good grasp on the concept." He was smiling.

"Well... What are you going to do?" Avril couldn't help but push. After all, if Muggles were being attacked now... Well, Hermione was a Muggle...

"I am going to speak to the Ministry High Board," Dumbledore told her, still smiling.

"High Board?" Harry cut in. Why had he never heard of them?

"The Board has taken over for Fudge's... Absence, Harry. Though they are very tied up at the moment looking for a new Minister."

"Oh. Do they have any candidates?" Harry asked.

"Several, in fact. All very promising, though I must say that my faith rests in Arthur Weasley's campaign."

Harry and Avril shot straight up in their seats.

"Mr Weasley?" Harry repeated, excited.

Dumbledore nodded. "I thought you'd be pleased."

"Does Ron know?" Avril asked.

"Apparently not. I suspect that his parents did not want to get their childrens' hopes up."

"Can we tell them?" Harry begged, trying not to look like a moocher.

"Of course- no sense in pretending that it won't happen," he winked.

Avril stared at him for a moment before allowing Harry to drag her from the office with a "Thank you!"

Five minutes later they burst into the Gryffindor Common Room. Avril, having been dragged all the way, was out of breath. So was Harry, though he was too excited to notice.

"Ron!" He called, running up the stairs, Avril close behind.

He burst into the boys' dormitory, only to shut it abruptly again and turn to Avril, white as a ghost.

"What is it?" Avril gently shook Harry's arm. "Harry? What's wrong?"

"There is no way," he said slowly, "that this day can get any better!"

He motioned for the door, which Avril cautiously opened.

Inside, seated at the edge of Ron's bed, were Ron and Hermione.

Both totally absorbed in each other. And besides Ron looking very nervous, and Hermione slightly uncomfortable, it looked like they were having a good time.

Avril slowly shut the door again, turned to Harry and let out a laugh.

"It's about bloody time," Harry said as they descended the stairway.

"Now we'll have to wait until he regains his sense before we can tell Ron about his Dad, though," Avril said, sitting beside Harry once again on the couch.

Wait.

Hadn't she only just been in this similar scenario?

Hadn't it turned out...

But Avril didn't have time to dwell on the question, as Harry apparently wasn't wasting any time.

See, Harry was one of those 1, 2, 3 people.

He stared at Avril, not hearing what she was saying about Ron, as he was speaking to himself inside his head. On the count of three, just go for it, he told himself.

That way, on three, there was no way to chicken out. There was the small possibility that he might stop in mid air, his head hanging between his place and Avril's, eyes wide and lips set, but this was only his second time, and it hadn't happened.

Harry was on three.

He moved in and kissed Avril again, hating how awkward he felt, but knowing that this was where he wanted to be.

Avril was bewildered, though somehow, at the same time, not totally surprised.

She felt his hand resting on hers, and for a moment just sat, bewildered.

Then, she had a major revelation.

"Harry!" She pushed him away. "Harry don't."

Harry regained his balance and didn't fall off the couch.

"What?" He asked, horrified that he had done something wrong.

"I don't want to do this," Avril told him.

Now it was Harry's turn: he was bewildered and surprised.

"What?"

"It's not you... I just... It's Malfoy."

Avril almost enjoyed the look on Harry's face. (A/N: Like I'm enjoying thinking what your faces are all like as you read this)

She couldn't help it. It had just come out like that.

"What?" he sputtered.

"Not just Malfoy, but Voldemort and Dumbledore and all those Muggles out there. There's stuff going on around us outside of Hogwarts- and it's all bad. People are dying, Harry. I don't think I can enjoy myself when...this sort of thing just seems unimportant."

Harry sat there, his mouth partially open.

Damn, was all he thought.