Falling

Falling

The sunlight poured into his room onto his sleeping figure. That had probably been the best night's sleep he'd had all month. Sitting up and stretching, he reached over for his glasses, which had mysteriously vanished from his bedside table. Getting off the bed, he stumbled through the room which was no mean feat considering he was now half-blind. He reached the door and wrenched it open and was accosted by the smell of wildflowers. He knew that was the shampoo in the bathroom that the girls used. Not sure which girl it was though; he reached up and stroked her hair. Feeling the all too familiar curls he slowly moved his hand down the side of her cheek and cupped her chin in his hand and faced it up to him. Realizing what he was doing, he slowly dropped his hand back to his side. "Morning 'Mione."

Not sure of what to make of Harry's strange fascination with her, she just froze. Watching his mouth, she almost thought he was going to kiss her. Then just as suddenly as he placed his hand under her chin, it left, leaving a strange tingling sensation where his fingers had rested. She saw his lips forming words but wasn't sure what he was saying.

"What?"

"You okay 'Mione?" Odd question she thought, then looking down she realized she only had a towel on because she just finished showering. She blushed hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Yeah sure why?"

"No reason. You just seemed a little tense that's all."

"Oh." She drew her gaze up and rested it on his eyes and noticed something was missing.

"Harry. Where are your glasses?"

"I don't now. I'm in the dark about that and I mean that literally. I can't see more then a inch away from my face without things getting blurry."

Hermione gave him a charming smile. Which he couldn't see. She started to giggle but was silenced by the look in his eyes. She couldn't tell what it was but her mind was screaming run before you do something stupid.

Harry had no idea what was going on with him but he knew it wasn't good. He never should have done that.. God, she smelled good. I really shouldn't be thinking that. Hermione's my best friend plus she has a boyfriend who just happens to be my other best friend. But the insane urge to stroke her cheek was starting to become unbearable; he needed to get out of there quick (without hurting himself by tripping down the stairs) before he acted on his weird desire.

"Are you going down for breakfast? I think Mrs. Weasley said it was ready 20 minutes ago," he said. "Plus won't Ron be worried if you don't go down."

"Yes, that reminds me Ron told me to tell you that we are going to Diagon Alley this afternoon."

"Oh ok."

"I'll see you at breakfast then."

"Yea, I'll be right down Hermione."

She walked down to her room and shut the door. Harry waited until he heard her door close. He went back into his room and shut the door. He pulled off his pajamas and found his clothes on the floor, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. He found a dark blue shirt and a pair of jeans. Sitting on the edge of the bed he started to think about how different this summer had been from the last. This had possibly been the worst summer he'd ever had at the Weasleys' house. Not that it was the worst summer ever because he had a fair share of those over the years living with the Dursleys but this was a different sort of bad. He couldn't explain it. When he heard that Hermione was coming to stay too, he thought the summer would be perfect. He couldn't have been more wrong.

The minute Hermione had arrived, he watched a change come over Ron. Not a physical change but he was different in the way he looked at Hermione. Ron talked about nothing but her. Every time he walked past her, he blushed profusely. Harry had a sneaking suspicion Ron fancied her since last year during the Yule Ball but really didn't think it would amount to anything. It's not that Harry hadn't noticed that she looked different. She certainly seemed more cautious about her appearance when in public, which was new. And she was much prettier than she was last year but then he always thought she was pretty in her own way.

Harry was starting to feel just a tiny bit left out, which wasn't an entirely new feeling; after all he had gone through 11 years of his life without friends. But still, it didn't make him feel any better. He couldn't even watch them holding hands without flinching. Which is sort of like when most wizards hear the name Voldemort. That wasn't a natural reaction. He was happy for them, truly was. Wasn't he? Now where did that thought come from? Of course he was happy for them, at least he thought he was happy for them. He even said it when they told him they were starting to "go out". The only thing was he wasn't completely sure if he was reassuring himself more then they. He couldn't quite figure out why it irked him so much to see them together. Maybe it was because they did everything together and seemed to forget completely about him, forcing him to spend the rest of the day with Ginny (as Fred and George stayed locked up in their room most of the time), who would do nothing but stare at him. He started to feel very guilty and dismissed all of these emotions as resentment because of how Ron and Hermione seemed to ignore him.

He shuddered. Honestly, the things he'd been thinking that day.

He had no choice but to go downstairs. The only problem was he couldn't see where he was going so reaching out in front of him he carefully felt his way down the twists and turns of the stairwell. He finally turned down the last flight of steps when he lost his footing and tumbled down the rest of the way.

Hermione who was happily buttering her toast heard a thumping coming from the stairs and then a loud thud.

"Did you hear that?"

Ron looked from his own toast. "What?"

"That noise."

"What noise? Hermione are you feeling ok?"

"That thumping. It seemed to be coming from the stairs. I think I'll go see what it is."

She placed her napkin on her plate and excused herself from the table.

"Where are you going 'Mione?"

"To see what made that noise. Ron weren't you even comprehending what I said?"

"No. Why? Should I have been?"

"Yes, you dolt, of course you were." She picked up a piece of toast and chucked it at his head. He caught it.

"'Mione it was probably Crookshanks. He has gained an awful lot of weight this summer." Hermione grabbed her napkin and threw it at his head. He grabbed it before it hit his face and smiled at her.

"Ron Weasley, I'm going to go see what it was whether you like it or not." She got out of her chair and walked briskly into the living room.

Her heart stopped at the sight that greeted her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Harry!" she shrieked. Ron heard her from in the kitchen and rushed to see what had happened.

"Oh my god Harry, what happened? Are you all right?" Harry tried to sit up. The only problem was he couldn't. Breathing hard, he just gave up trying to sit and looked over at her.

Ron rushed over next to her and bent over him and helped him sit up. When he could finally sit without falling over, he looked up at Hermione and Ron who had their hands laced together. He flinched inwardly.

"I...I..." He was breathing heavily. It scared him. He felt Hermione place a hand on his shoulder. He reached and grabbed hold of it. She put her other hand on top and squeezed it.

"Try to calm down Harry. It just looks like you took a nasty fall. You'll get nothing more then a few good bruises," Ron said, trying to keep his anxiety out of his voice.

"Yea...Right... Feels like a lot more then bruises." He wished his breathing would return too normal.

"Hey you actually said a whole sentence. There's progress for you," Ron said although his look said otherwise. He was getting uneasy. Hermione still hadn't let go of Harry's hand and it didn't look like she would. He cleared his throat. She looked over and saw Ron's expression and quickly let go of Harry's hand.

"Here." Ron extended his hand to help him up. Harry reached up to except it but missed by about a foot. Ron chuckled and grabbed Harry under the elbow and hoisted him up.

Harry stumbled backwards into Hermione. Hermione who wasn't prepared for the fall was knocked over and Harry went with her. Good Grief. I feel like a complete idiot. He felt a foot connect with his shin.

"Ow. Hey what was that for."

"Get off of me. I can't breath," Hermione grunted. She tried to wriggle out from beneath Harry but came to no avail. She gave up and slumped back down

"I'm trying." Harry finally rolled off of her and sat up looking at her.

"Harry now in all seriousness, are you sure your ok?"

"Honestly, Mione, you make it sound like I don't care if I get hurt. "

"What do you call that second year Quidditch match when that bludger broke your arm just because you didn't want to be to distracted to catch the snitch. I don't think you cared if you got hurt then did you. Did you?"

"Calm down Hermione I only wanted to see you get annoyed." Besides you look cute when you do.

"I do."

Harry looked at her and realized he must have spoken his last thought out loud.

Ron quickly changed the subject. "Harry why were you coming downstairs without your glasses on anyway?" Leaning over, he helped Hermione off the floor.

Harry sat up and rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Ron.

"Maybe because I was hungry? Maybe because I couldn't find my glasses and needed help and maybe because..."

"You're an idiot," Hermione suggested.

"That wasn't what I was going to say."

"How about because you're a complete idiot," Ron put in.

"Will you two please shut up for one minute?" They closed their mouths and looked down at him. Harry thought it was actually quite funny that they listened to him for once.

"Ron help me up will you." Ron nodded and helped him up. This time he didn't stumble but he didn't do anything else either. Slowly, he took a tentative step forward and found that he could walk pretty well. Maybe he wasn't walking with grace and finesse but at least he was walking without falling. He turned around and beamed at them. They returned the smile and walked over to him.

"It's been a minute. We can speak all we want now," stated Hermione.

"Good," Ron said, "You gave us quite a scare there Harry. Well at least Hermione anyway." Harry turned towards him thinking he was done speaking but Ron continued. "Don't you ever do anything like this in public. It would be embarrassing."

"For who, you or me?"

Ron mumbled that he meant for himself while walking away. However Harry heard him and hit him on the arm.

"Hey!"

"I didn't do it."

"Harry you don't lie very well."

Harry smiled. "Ah. Shut up."

"The truth hurts," Hermione said through a smile that mirrored Harry's.

He was smiling like a fool, which is something he hadn't done in days. It was almost as if the last two weeks hadn't happened.

"So what's for breakfast? I'm starving," Harry wondered. Hermione was going to tell him it was impossible to be starving for he just ate last night but kept her mouth closed.

"Toast," Hermione answered. "If there's any left. You see Ron over there was on his fourth slice by the time you fell down the steps."

"Ron. You pig why didn't you save any for me?"

"Don't know. I am a growing boy after all."

"So am I but I don't eat mounds of toast."

"Don't worry, Mum will probably cook some more anyway."

Once they got settled back down for breakfast, Ginny came hurtling down the stairs screaming. Ron jumped out of his chair and rushed over to her.

"What's wrong Ginny?" Ginny didn't answer she just looked at her shoes. "Come on Ginny what is it?"

"Pig was sitting on me when I woke up," she murmured feeling embarrassed for the way she came bursting into the kitchen.

"So?"

"Well...Just look at my hair." She turned around. There was bird poop matted in it. Hermione laughed. "Eww!" she choked out.

"My sentiments exactly," Ginny said. "How am I supposed to get this out of my hair?"

"Following the instructions on the back of the shampoo bottle," suggested Harry trying very hard not to laugh.

"What instructions?"

"Oh you know 'Lather, Rinse, Repeat.' Repeating is probably the answer to your problem."

"Ok I'll try that." She rushed back up the stairs to the bathroom leaving Ron, Harry, and Hermione in hysterics. After a few more minutes they went back to eating.

"Ok that was really weird," Harry said as he continued to butter his toast.

"What was weird Harry?" Hermione inquired.

"That."

"Why was 'that' so weird?"

"I don't know it was just weird."