Secrets Among Us

Chapter Two

A week had passed since the last Hogsmeade weekend. Students were filing in to their normal routine, eager for the winter holidays to begin. Ron and Harry became more and more restless with their schoolwork, yet their laziness seemed to fuel Hermione's determination.

"Ron, if you ask me one more time to give you an answer, I'll put an Erasing Charm on your parchment and you can start all over again," she said in a frustrated tone, slamming her quill down on the table. No one in the Gryffindor Common Room took much notice; everyone was too busy studying for their last exams. "This is getting absolutely ridiculous."

"But Hermione, you love Transfiguration," Ron pointed out. "I just thought..."

"You thought I would enjoy doing the same homework, twice in the same night?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nice try."

As the two continued to bicker, Harry and Ginny exchanged glances across the room. Ginny gave an apologetic smile, as if to explain for Ron's behavior. Harry rolled his eyes and gestured toward the fighting couple, mouthing "Never stops." Ginny nodded in agreement, and the two continued on writing their separate essays, stealing glances at one another with secretive smiles.

Harry looked down at the pages of parchment he'd already written and began to sift through his textbook. With a groan, he realized the information he needed was in a book that he was supposed to check out of the library that afternoon. Running a hand through his hair, Harry walked passed Ron and Hermione and mentioned he'd be back soon. They nodded distractedly, continuing their argument. Peace enveloped Harry as he stepped out of the portrait hole and the only sound he could hear was the distant chatter of some third years in corridor behind him.

Choosing an even pace to walk at, Harry moved through the corridors while thoughts swam through his mind. He was so deep in concentration that he nearly jumped out of his skin when two hands appeared around his glasses and blocked his vision.

"Guess who," a familiar sing song voice spoke from behind him. A grin stretched across his face as he turned around to see Ginny.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, his hand holding hers as their fingers interlocked.

"I wanted to see you alone," she replied as they continued to walk in the direction of the library. "I managed to get past Gryffindor's resident married couple."

"Quite sneaky, are we?" Harry asked, kissing the top of her head. He could smell the clean scent of her hair and felt overcome with a sense of familiarity. When her arm slipped around the small of his back, a slight warning bell went off in his mind. "We shouldn't be walking so close. We could get caught."

"No one's around," Ginny pointed out. "It's another hour until we can't roam the corridors; most people are locked away studying anyway. Besides, I missed you all day."

"I saw you at lunch," Harry said, stating the obvious as usual.

"It wasn't the same," she replied, holding him closer. "Not like this, where we could be together." Her head tilted up toward his and she captured his lips in a kiss that made him aware of how much she missed him. Harry closed his eyes as her hands wandered from the small of his back up to his neck, where she played with the ends of his unruly, black hair. Ginny gave a sigh as she broke from his lips and rested her head on his shoulder. "This is much better."

Harry smiled and gave her shoulders a tight squeeze as they continued to walk toward the library. They were a couple corridors away when Harry heard the sound of faint footsteps getting louder and closer. He immediately dropped his arm and stepped away from Ginny, wondering who it could be. Before she could question his actions, Draco Malfoy appeared around the corner with his usual sneer.

"Potter. Weasley. Looking for an empty corridor?" Draco asked, his face twisting into an evil smile. Something in his eyes seemed odd to Harry, but he shook off the feeling.

"Sod off Malfoy," Harry replied, looking at him only to give him a dirty glare. Draco just looked at Harry as if he had a secret he was dying to share.

"Trust me, the last place I want to be is wherever you two choose as your snogging room," he said with a snicker. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ginny stiffen at Draco's words. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody!" With a cold laugh, he continued to walk in the opposite direction of Harry and Ginny. They watched until he was clear out of sight and earshot.

"Oh my God, he knows something!" Ginny said worriedly. "How could he know? We've been so careful!"

"Ginny, don't get worked up over this," Harry said assuredly, for her sake. "I'm sure it was nothing. You know how Malfoy is; he's just trying to get us all riled up over nothing."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I know so. He's just trying to mess with us," Harry said, mostly believing his own words. He didn't want to mention the odd feeling he had when he'd made eye contact with Draco; Ginny's eyes were filled with enough worry as it was. Harry looked down at his watch and his eyes bugged out when he noticed the time. "Gin, we're gonna be late if we don't get a move on. Let's go."

They continued their walk to the library, as thoughts raced through their minds. If Malfoy knew, why was he being so weird about it? Why wouldn't he just go blab around the school? It didn't add up to Harry and he had a sinking feeling he was going to find out sooner or later just exactly if Malfoy was messing with their heads or not.

[Two Weeks Later]

"Ron, I'm going to miss the train back to London," Hermione said as Ron tightened his grip on her hand. Today she was leaving him to go to the States with her parents to some place called Florida for her winter vacation. She assured him that she would be back before he knew it, but Ron had a feeling this was going to be one long vacation.

"Come on, stay here this year," Ron begged. "Every year you've left to go with your parents to some exotic location like Asia or Bermuda or Delaware. Stay at Hogwarts this year."

"Well as much as I would like to do that," Hermione started as she grabbed the handle of her suitcase. "I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents and working on a tan."

"Just think about it," Ron continued pestering. "A whole library full of books. Books that you don't have to wait in line for or sign silly waiting lists. Come on Hermione; they're just itching for you check them out."

"Stop tempting me," Hermione murmured, pushing a piece of his hair off his eyebrow. The pleading look in his eyes would've been comical had she not been leaving him. She knew she was the rational one of the relationship, but even Hermione wanted to cut loose once in awhile. Unfortunately, now was not one of those times. "I'll see you in two weeks. We'll owl post each other and I'll be back soon. You'll see."

"I'll miss you," Ron said quietly, acutely aware that a goodbye scene in the Great Hall at breakfast was not exactly his ideal spot for displaying his affection for his girlfriend. "Come home soon okay?"

"I will," Hermione promised, kissing his cheek. "Behave while I'm gone."

"Yes mum," Ron replied, rolling his eyes. Hermione smiled at the gesture and turned to see most of the Gryffindor table staring back at her.

"Well, I'm off," Hermione said to her friends. "Happy holidays everyone!" A chorus of "goodbyes" and "have a great vacation" replied back to her as Harry and Ginny waved their friend goodbye.

"Wait, I'll walk you to the entrance," Ron said, catching up with her. Together they walked, hand in hand, anticipating the moment when they would have to be separated.

"Well, that's sweet," Ginny said, biting into her toast. "He's going to be so lost without her."

"No he won't," Harry replied, taking a drink of juice. "She's just going to be gone for a couple of weeks. She does this every year."

"Yeah, but this is the first year they're together," Parvati Patil chimed in. "I'll bet he'll be really cross and not want to talk to anyone."

"Well, here he comes now," Seamus Finnigan said, nodding toward the entrance to the Great Hall. "I agree with Harry; he doesn't look too sad to me."

They turned to see Ron with the biggest smile on his face and what appeared to be strawberry colored lip gloss covering part of his bottom lip. He bounded happily toward the table and sat down next to Seamus. He began to load up his plate with breakfast when he noticed everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Aren't you sad?" Parvati asked incredulously.

"About...?"

"Hermione leaving," she said in an exasperated tone. "You've been complaining all week how she's going to be gone and now that she is, you have a bloody grin on your face and you're stuffing your face with pancakes."

"Well, that's really between Hermione and me now isn't it?" Ron replied, continuing on with his breakfast. Parvati gave an irritated sigh and got up from the table, muttering something about the difficulties of understanding teenage boys.

"She slipped you tongue in that kiss, didn't she?" Seamus asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Ron replied, slightly bewildered at such a direct question.

"Cool," Seamus said, continuing on with his meal. Ginny scrunched her nose at the thought of one of her best friends and her brother making out where everyone could see them.

"Well on that note, I'm going to excuse myself," Ginny said, pushing her plate away.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded nonchalant.

"Just going to walk around and get some fresh air," she said. "I'm going to try and enjoy the peacefulness here while it lasts." She spun on her heel and left the boys to their own devices. Harry tried not to look wistful as she left.

A few tables away, Harry was being watched by a certain blonde Slytherin while he ate his breakfast as well.

"I'm only sad I can't be here to see their reactions," Draco told Pansy Parkinson with a nasty sneer. "They paid me quite handsomely for the photo; not that I need the money or anything."

"I didn't even know you knew how to work a camera," Pansy replied, flipping her hair out of her eyes. Draco rolled his eyes at the stupid girl. Of course he knew how to work a camera; it had been awfully lucky of him to find such a photograph lying on the ground before anyone else did. Draco knew somebody else had done the dirty work and he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"In a couple of days, everyone's going to know," Draco said, feeling slightly giddy. "That picture's going to knock that smug smirk off his face for a long time."