Change of Heart

"Who's that?" Ron asked curiously as Ginny began talking to someone hidden by a large pile of books.

"Oh no," Harry muttered as Ginny pulled the girl to the trio.

"Look who I found," Ginny said brightly. Maddy stepped into the fluorescent light, smiling shyly.

"Hullo Hermione, Ron," she grinned. Her grin faded as she turned to Harry. "Harry."

"Madison." He frowned. Maddy winced.

"Suppose you got my letter then?" she hissed.

"Oh, the Maddy Howler?" Harry barked. "Of course I did!" She scowled at him and turned back to the others.

"Shall we get our books?" she asked cheerfully as the five of them gathered up their books. Ginny had spotted one of her friends and scurried over to them. After they purchased their books, the four of them walked to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Inside the store, they saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, being followed by an eager first year with curly blonde hair, buck teeth, and a bumpy upturned nose.

"Go away," Draco moaned. Crabbe and Goyle were blushing a deep scarlet. Harry nudged Ron in the ribs and motioned to the girl.

"No one said you had to stay Draco!" the girl squeaked. "I just want to talk to Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Go!" he hissed to his bodyguards. "Just make her leave me alone." The boys waddled to the girl, who was shrieking with delight.

"You guys are so cute!" she screamed. "I'm Areyn Gunkler, and this is my rat, Lemmiwig!" She shoved the gray rodent in their faces."

"That's great," Goyle forced a smile. He glanced at Crabbe and mouthed "Run on three, one . . .two . . . three!" The large Slytherins bounded in the opposite direction, Areyn behind them.

"Wait!" she shrieked. "Come back!" Hermione moved out of the way as she sprang out the door after them.

"Honestly!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Who was that?" Maddy asked thoughtfully.

"Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe," replied Ron. "Slytherin jerks."

"Ah," she shrugged. After they got their robes fitted, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Maddy continued with heir shopping. An hour later, they sat in a booth at Flourean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. They were shortly joined by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan.

"So, who's this?' Seamus asked, gesturing to Maddy.

"Madison Belle," snarled Harry.

"Actually, it's Maddy," said Maddy, frowning at Harry. "And you two would be?"

"Dean Thomas," introduced Dean.

"And Seamus Finnigan," grinned Seamus. Maddy blushed a pale pink as she continued to eat her vanilla ice cream cone.

"So have you guys finished shopping?" asked Hermione, trying to break the silence.

"Yep," replied Dean. Before he could continued talking, Areyn scampered over.

"H-have you seen-" she began.

"No, we haven't," scowled Hermione. Areyn let out a shrill whimper and ran back into Flourish and Blotts. "Not to be rude or anything, but that girl gets on my last nerve!" Harry's thoughts were drowned by his godfather.

"Well, we better get going," Seamus declared as he stood up and dropped two galleons from his pocket.

"Yea, well, see you later," Dean agreed as he followed Seamus out of the shop.

"I can't believe he's gone," muttered Harry, running his hand through his unruly black hair. "It's my fault he died."

"Who?" Maddy asked quietly.

"Sirius Black," replied Ron. Harry silently admitted that he expected her to jump or say that he was a mass murderer or something. But she simply nodded.

"It wasn't your fault, Harry," whispered Hermione. "It's not anyone's fault but that Lestrange woman."

"The spell didn't kill him," murmured Harry. "T-the veil did." A long silence followed this statement.

"I better go," muttered Maddy as she stood up and walked towards the Leaky Cauldron. Harry, Ron, and Hermione found Ginny and used some Floo Powder to get back to the Burrow. Four hours later, Harry lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

'S'all my fault,' he murmured. 'S'all my fault he died...' Ron sighed loudly.

"Look Harry," he began impatiently. "I know your grieving and everything, but can you talk to yourself a little quieter?"

"Okay," sighed Harry. Ron muttered something, but Harry didn't hear what he said. "All my fault."

The next morning was bright and sunny. Harry yawned quietly and dressed quickly into some jeans and his old Weasley sweater, which was two inches short on him. After tying his shoelaces Harry trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Fred, George, Ron and Hermione sat eating pancakes. Harry took a seat next to Ron and silently began on his own breakfast. Ginny came skidding down the stairs and sat down next to Harry.

"Morning," she sighed cheerfully. Several minutes later, he found himself dragging his trunk into the nearly ancient Ford Anglia. After throwing it into the trunk, he slid into the car next to Hermione. They were shortly joined by Ron and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley slid into the drivers seat and they took off to King's Cross. The drive to the train station was short and silent. As the four of them ran to the divider of the stations (they had only three minutes until the train left.) Ginny found a compartment with Luna, Colin, and a few other 5th years while Harry, Ron, and Hermione found an empty compartment in the middle of the train. Ron and Harry began to play Exploding Snap while Hermione curled up in her seat and pulled out a copy of Witchcraft and Wizardry Schools Around the World.

"Did you know that there's exactly 378 schools around the world?" murmured Hermione. Ron held the urge to say "Really? How interesting!" A new thought popped into Harry's head. Hermione was too absorbed in her book to hear them now.

"Are you going to ask her?' whispered Harry. Ron nearly fell off his seat.

"I-I forgot about that," he muttered.

"Are you?"

"Well, I guess."

"Great!" exclaimed Harry. "I'll leave the compartment for a bit and you ask her then, okay?"

"Okay," replied Ron. He looked very nervous. Harry stood up.

"I'm going to go change into my robes," he declared in a very obvious voice. Hermione pried her eyes from the book and glanced up at him, but didn't say anything. Harry strode out of the compartment. He had just shut the door when he ran into someone. Their foreheads collided, sending both of them onto the floor.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the other person. Harry removed his hands from his forehead and glanced at the other person. He groaned unhappily.

"You?" frowned Maddy.

"Nice to see you too," muttered Harry. Maddy scowled and stood up and open the compartment door. He grabbed her wrist.

"Don't open that," he warned her.

"Why?" she asked, slightly angry.

"Well," began Harry as he slid down the wall and sat down. Maddy slid down next to him.

"What?" she asked, now more curious than angry.

"Ron going to ask out Hermione," he replied. It sounded unbelievably strange when he said it. Maddy squealed with excitement.

"Oh how cute," she exclaimed. "Do you reckon she'll say yes?"

"Probably," shrugged Harry.

"How long should we wait?" she asked aimlessly.

"Few more minutes," he replied. The two of them sat in awkward silence. 'Wow,' thought Harry. 'I just had a non-confrontation conversation with Maddy. It's a miracle.'

A few minutes later, Harry and Maddy slowly made their way back into the compartment. Before they could open the door, they found something blocking it. Harry ran him shoulder into the door and heard something fall. The two of them slid into the compartment. Hermione ran past them and into the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

"What happened?" asked Harry incredulously as he sat down next to Ron, Maddy taking a seat across from them, her expression solemn.

"I-I better go," she said shyly as she darted out of the compartment.

"What happened?" Harry asked again.

"I-I asked her," Ron replied, his voice unnaturally high and shrill. "And she said no."

"Why?"

"She said that she didn't want to ruin our friendship," replied Ron quietly. He rubbed his eyes furiously with the sleeve of his robes.

"Oh," replied Harry awkwardly. He didn't know what to say. "Well, erm, Maddy is going to talk to Hermione. Maybe she didn't know what to say, or maybe she was nervous, or maybe-"

"Maybe she just doesn't like me," shrugged Ron. "I-I'll get over it." Harry turned his gaze to his knees.