The Rebels

Chapter Four: New Beginings

"We need to talk. It´s about Ron." Hermione´s voice sounded on edge and Harry begun to worry. "Have you noticed how he is acting strange?"

"He seems a little grumpy, and he isn´t speaking as much as he used to, but I think this is more of a good thing."

"Harry, be serious for just a little will you," her voice had risen considerably so he judged it better to do as he was told, "have you noticed he is acting weird?"

"Yes, Hermione, I noticed he is acting weird, but I didn´t realize it was so preoccupying."

"During the holidays, I went to the Burrow, you know that, right?"

"Yes Mione I know, cut to the point, will you?" he seemed to be getting more annoyed by the minute.

"Ron spent the whole time I was there..."

"Staring at you?" Harry interrupted her, "because if that´s what this conversation is about I know exactly what his problem is."

"Why would he spend his whole time staring at me?"

"Was this what this conversation was about?"

"Actually no, but I want to know why Ron would stare at me."

"As if you didn´t know."

"Actually, I don´t know Harry"

"Because Ron has a giant crush on you but he is stupid enough not to tell you." Harry said impatiently.

"Ron has a what on me?" The shock in her voice was so evident that Harry, who was pacing around the room, turned to look at her.

"You didn´t know?"

"Of course I didn´t bloody well know!" she cried.

"O God, Ron is going to kill me. And did you just swear?"

"I suppose he has every right to, and I have a reason to be swearing, after what you just told me."

Harry returned to pacing the room, running his hands through his hair, making it stand even more on edge than usual. Hermione sat down on the teacher´s desk and seemed to be deep in thought. Harry´s voice startled her out of her reverie.

"Hermione, you said this wasn´t why you called me here, what do you say you thought was wrong with Ron?"

"He spent his whole free time studying."

"What?" Harry said, his voice filled with incredulity, "Ron? I´ll believe it when I see it."

"I swear Harry, and he wasn´t studying for school, the books he was reading, I recognised a few, they were from the Restricted Section."

"Hermione, are you telling me that Ron spent his summer studying Dark Arts?" Harry´s tone was now concerned.

"I don´t know if they were Dark Arts! I was actually wondering how he managed to borrow them, he would need a teacher´s signature."

"And I don´t think any professor would give Ron an authorisation, he´s just not the kind of student professors do that for."

They were both silent for some time, then Harry spoke tentatively,

"Mione, do you think that he might just be afraid and that he is trying to protect himself? I wouldn´t blame him for it; I am not totally against the "fight the dark with the dark" theory. And I mean, it´s the logical explanation, even though Ron doesn´t strike me as someone who would run for books if he ever got afraid. But you know, even after all this years, we might not know him at all."

"Yes. We never know. However, what has surely crossed your mind and what neither of us has yet said is..."

"Don´t say it," Harry interrupted, "please don´t. I don´t believe it. I don´t ever want it to cross my mind again. I´m sure there is a logical explanation to it and you should just ask him. I won´t ask. He would be mad because I doubted him. But you should ask, he has the right to know that you doubt his loyalties. I will believe this only if I hear it from his own mouth. I need to go" Harry turned on his heels and left the room, leaving Hermione to worry by herself.

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    Harry entered the common room searching for her. His conversation with Hermione kept turning around in his head like an obsession. He didn´t know what to believe and needed some sensible conversation on a totally different subject. He caught a glimpse of long copper hair sitting by the fire. She was concentrating on something he couldn´t see, probably a book or essay. For the first time in an almost five year acquaintance, he noticed how her hair seemed to surround her face in a fiery halo, the light of the fire reflecting on it, turning it the colour of dark wine. He saw how she unconsciously twirled a loose tendril of it with a hand while concentrating. He realized with a pang of loss that he had probably missed many of those moments, immediately discarding her as the annoying little sister. Shaking himself internally, he begun walking again and stopped in front of her, blocking her light, which made her look up.

"Hullo Harry!" she asked cheerfully,

"Hi Ginny," he answered nervously.

"How was your first day?" she continued,

"Ginny I need to ask you a favour," he interrupted.

"Sure," her voice was anxious, "go ahead," frowning slightly "is something wrong?"

"No nothing´s wrong. You remember we talked about doing research about my family. I realized I can´t live without knowing anything anymore and if nobody will tell me, then I´ll find out what I want to know all by myself. I wrote to Sirius but I don´t think he will tell me much, he´s just like Dumbledore, they think I should only know when I´m ready." He laughed mirthlessly, "I decided to choose my own time. What I was wondering is if you would help. After all, you were the one with came up with the idea, it felt right to ask you first."

He seemed perfectly cool and calm, Ginny noticed, but his voice had that an underlying urgency, a note of despair, that was only present when he talked about his parents. Harry was getting very good at hiding his emotions.

"Of course Harry, I´ll help you."

"Thanks," he said gratefully. "I didn´t feel I could do it by myself, and it didn´t feel right to ask Ron and Hermione." Ginny smiled slightly, it was the first exterior sign of human emotions she had seen in Harry that day; she wondered if it was going to be always like this, the struggle to discover what he was thinking.

"I´m happy you thought of asking me. Where and when do you want to meet?"

"I don´t know," he said while sitting heavily on the couch beside her, "what time do you finish tomorrow?" She found her timetable inside her backpack and taking a look said,

"Transfiguration last thing tomorrow, ends at five o´clock"

"That´s good," he said, "I finish at five, too. We can meet at the library and make a head start on our research."

"I think that´s good. We´ll have two and a half hours before dinner, that should be enough time to get something going. Don´t worry Harry I´m sure we´ll find something." She reached out and touched his arm, in what she hoped was a comforting way. She had this strange feeling, a certainty that Harry was going to need her support. And soon.

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    Ron was sprawled in an overstuffed red settee, half hidden by some overexcited first years that were seated in front of him. He was in an extremely comfortable position, he could watch and not be seen.

    He had seen Harry come in, looking worried. He had scanned the room and walked towards Ginny. At this point Ron had felt a stir of jealousy, immediately held in check. Harry was still deep in conversation with Ginny. What a victory for her. All those years she had waited for an opening, and now she had it, he was seeking her for comfort, a loving touch. The most ironic thing was that he probably didn´t even notice it, Harry was never good at noticing his own Achilles heel.

    Ron begun wondering what he should do now. He had noticed Hermione was acting strangely around him, and he was sure Hermione had noticed the different Ron during the time she had spent at the Burrow. She was far too perceptive to have missed it, he should have been more careful. However, if he gave the problem some thought, he was sure to find a way for it to become an asset, an opening. He had always wanted to try something deeper with Hermione, something more personal than just friendship. He knew he could make her rely on him, trust him with her whole being, then the job was almost done, all he had to do was give it a little encouragement.

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    Hermione hugged her knees a little closer, trying to find solace in the protective gesture. She fought the urge to cry, "it was too childish" she told herself. She would have to either deal with this situation rationally or not deal with it at all. The second option was extremely tempting, why not simply ignore the whole business, return to the ease and familiarity of before the holidays, after all, Harry seemed to be doing an extremely good job of ignoring the issues at hand. Hermione realized it had been years since she had felt this lonely, as if she was alone in the world, no matter how many persons were around you, you were different from them. When she had come to Hogwarts, she had hoped that she would never feel this way again. It had been that way until now. Silent tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. She had no idea what to do. When she had asked to talk to Harry, she hadn´t expected he would react like this. She didn´t really blame him, after all Ron was his first friend. The first person in the world that actually acknowledged him for what he was. And maybe he was right, she should just ask. Nobody with a heart was expected to accept in an instant the suspicion that your best friend was practising Dark Magic.

    She heard footsteps in the corridor and someone opening the door. Looking up she found herself face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"Just perfect," she thought.