The Matchmaker

Harry did not have to wait long for a confrontation with Hermione. After meeting up with him in Herbology, she and Ron had wasted no time in asking him what was wrong. Harry's bad mood was obvious to everyone, including the poor Rumplebog plant he was supposed to be separating and replanting into smaller pots. Instead of doing it slowly and carefully as instructed, Harry was roughly grabbing the purple leaves and violently pulling them off of the main plant. Each time he removed a section of the Rumplebog, it gave an ear-splitting shriek. It was quite an annoying sound, and unfortunately Harry had been doing this for more than a few minutes. At this point the plant was trembling, and the remaining leaves were shriveling in fear.

Hermione, who had already finished with her Rumplebog, was watching the whole ordeal and had finally taken pity on the plant. "Just give it to me, please, and I'll do it," she said in an exasperated voice.

"Fine," Harry barked, and he hurled the large pot across the table at her, spraying dirt down her front as it landed with a loud thump.

Hermione had jumped back a bit and was now glaring at Harry, her expression mixed with shock and anger. "Well!" she huffed. "I was only trying to help!"

Ron had looked up to see what all the fuss was about and was now glaring at Harry also. "What'd ya do that for?" he asked angrily.

Unfortunately their glares did nothing to dissipate Harry's mood. He thought briefly about apologizing to Hermione as he watched her brush the dirt off of her cloak, but then remembered her conversation with Ginny, and his anger flared. Unable to stop himself and staring right back at Hermione, Harry said, "Well, some people seem to think that they've somehow got the right to stick their nose into my business!"

Ron stared at him blankly. "Have you gone mad?" he asked. "It's only a plant!"

"Sure it is," Harry muttered, looking down, but not before catching the look that Hermione was giving him. She was studying him as though trying to solve a puzzle. He did not see Hermione and Ron quickly exchange a look, agreeing to let this drop for now. The trio remained silent for the rest of the class, Ron still struggling with his plant, and Hermione finishing with Harry's, if only to have something to keep her busy.

Harry fumed silently until the class was dismissed and then dashed out the door much ahead of Ron and Hermione. He didn't want to deal with them right now, especially Hermione. Harry knew that he had really stepped in it, but there was really no way to fix things until they came to a head. He had briefly considered confessing to Hermione what he had overheard, but Harry was simply not in the mood. He would just have to wait until Hermione found him out and sort it out then. Harry was hopeful that the two girls would not have a chance to talk when they got back to the common room. He had already gotten Hermione's temper up enough today.

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"So why's he being such a prat, d'you think?" Ron asked Hermione as the pair watched Harry sprint out of the room after class.

"I'm not sure, Ron," Hermione replied, "but we're going to find out, believe me."

"He was fine in Professor Jones' class," Ron said as he gathered up his things and began walking out the door with Hermione beside him.

"I know," she said. "Which means that something obviously happened between here and there."

"Malfoy?" Ron suggested, turning to look at her as he spoke. The sunlight behind her made Hermione look as if she was glowing. Like an angel, Ron thought, and then blushed and looked away. Hermione noticed this and wondered momentarily what he was thinking about but chose to ignore it.

"No, I don't think so," she answered, trying to stay focused. "I don't see why he wouldn't have told us if it was something to do with Malfoy."

"True," Ron said, glad that his brain was back on track. "What then?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione said, biting her lip as she often did when she was thinking. "There was something about what he said though..." She trailed off, not wanting to say anything to Ron until she was sure. "Did I tell you that I spoke to Ginny last night?"

"Really? How did it go? Is she going with him to Hogsmeade?" Ron asked eagerly. "Mum'll be thrilled -"

"She's not going," Hermione said softly as they entered the castle and headed toward the tower. "She said she doesn't like Harry anymore. I mean, she likes him, just not like that."

"What?" said Ron, clearly surprised at the news. "I don't believe it."

"That's what she said," explained Hermione. "I guess you'll have to give up on your little scheme now."

"Why?" Ron asked, plainly not understanding how his sister's opinion mattered on this topic.

"What do you mean 'why'? You don't really expect her to go out with someone she doesn't like, now do you?" Hermione laughed.

"Well, I suppose not," Ron answered. "But she liked him once, right? Maybe we can make her change her mind again."

"And just how do you propose to do that?" asked Hermione doubtfully.

"Hermione," Ron said as he suddenly stopped walking and turned to face her. "You're the cleverest witch in this whole bloody castle." Her cheeks tinged pink as she looked at him happily. "You'll come up with something, won't you?"

Her pink cheeks quickly went red. Hermione put a hand on her hip and asked angrily, "Oh? And what are you to do while I'm coming up with all the ideas for your plan?"

"Oh, come on. You're still going to help me, right?" Ron had a hurt expression on his face as he looked at her.

Hermione stared into his blue eyes, thinking to herself, Not the sad puppy dog face. Won't there ever come a time when I can say no to him when he looks at me like that? At the moment, she doubted it.

Ron continued, "I thought we were in this together?"

Any resolve Hermione may have had melted as she heard his last word. It may not be exactly what she wanted, but at least they were doing something together. "Oh, fine," she snapped as she started to continue walking up the stairs, letting him continue to think that she was upset. The last thing she needed was for Ron to think that he had her wrapped around his little finger.

"Good," Ron replied, again walking beside her. He took a quick glance in her direction as he said, "You're much better at this type of thing than I am anyway."

"You have no idea," Hermione muttered as the pair finally arrived at tower and, giving the Fat Lady the password (whizzing worms), passed through the portrait hole and into the common room.