The Book of Morgan Le Fey

Chapter Sixteen: Research

Ron raised the alarm almost the moment Harry slumped back onto the sofa. McGonagall came rushing into the common room in her tartan dressing gown and gasped aloud, then rushed off to inform Dumbledore.

'Get him to the hospital wing, Mr. Weasley!' she ordered.

Ron nodded and ran to the sofa. He and Hermione tried for a moment to wake Harry up, but he wouldn't stir.

'We'll have to carry him,' said Hermione.

'I've got him,' said Ron, scooping Harry up from the sofa. Harry was thoroughly limp, almost dead weight, and yet he still felt very light in Ron's arms. He carried Harry carefully through the portrait hall and then he and Hermione rushed toward the hospital wing as fast as they could.

'Madam Pomfrey!' Hermione shrieked as they burst through the hospital wing doors.

'What? What is it?' Madam Pomfrey came hurtling through her office door and gasped. 'Potter! What's happened to him? Get him on the bed here, Weasley!'

'He...he had an attack,' said Ron, putting Harry down gently on the nearest bed. 'He passed out.'

But Madam Pomfrey was already leaning over Harry, prodding him gently with her hands. She picked up his wrist and held it firmly between her fingers.

'Well, he's breathing and he's got a pulse,' she said. 'But I don't like his color, and his scar is very red. Was it...a vision?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, then back at Madam Pomfrey, and nodded.

The hospital doors flew open and Professor Dumbledore entered, his long dressing gown and silver hair flowing after him as he strode with remarkable quickness to Harry's bedside. Behind him were Professors McGonagall and Snape.

'What's happened?' Dumbledore asked, turning to Ron and Hermione.

Ron felt his mouth go dry. Harry had often talked very easily to the Headmaster, but Ron had always been intimidated by him, even though Dumbledore had never once been anything less than totally kindly toward him. He swallowed and looked at Hermione, and she took over.

'Harry had a vision just now,' she said. 'In the common room. It was a very strong one and he passed out.'

'Did he say what happened in the vision?' Dumbledore asked in his steady voice. 'Anything specific?'

'Yes,' said Hermione, her voice shaking just a little. 'He mentioned those three Muggle scientists who went missing. He said something bad had happened to them. Then he said that Voldemort was angry, but...but determined about something. Voldemort was talking to someone, but Harry couldn't see who it was.'

'Did Harry say what Voldemort was talking about?' Dumbledore said, but it was his eyes and not his voice that looked urgent.

'Yes,' Hermione went on. 'He said...he said something about a book. He wanted whoever it was he was talking to, to find a book. And...and that the book was in Hogwarts.'

Dumbledore nodded, but said nothing, but McGonagall gasped, and Snape said, as though he hadn't meant anyone else to hear it, 'Dear god.'

Ron stared at Snape--the Potions master was so pale that Ron could see the thin blue veins in his face. Snape's black eyes were bright and fearful--it was the first time Ron had ever seen Snape looked afraid.

'Severus,' Dumbledore said slowly. 'Does this mean anything to you?'

Snape took a breath and nodded. 'The Dark Lord...is searching for a means to rid the world of Muggles.'

'I am aware of that,' said Dumbledore. 'You have already filled me in on that issue.'

'Yes,' said Snape slowly, 'but...but Potter's vision suggests that Voldemort has found a solution to his problem. A very potent solution.' Snape seemed reluctant to want to elaborate, but just then Hermione piped in.

'Please, sir,' she said to Dumbledore. 'I think I might know what Voldemort's trying to do.'

'Yes, Miss Granger?'

'I...I think Voldemort is trying to find a way to make Muggles sick,' she said. 'I think he wants to use a deadly disease to wipe out the Muggle population. That's why those laboratories were broken into, and why those scientists disappeared. He's trying to develop some sort of super-virus that can kill lots of people. And...and I think this book, whatever it is, must contain the way to make the virus or distribute it. Some spell or potion, maybe.'

Dumbledore eyed Hermione impassively, then nodded. 'Impressive, Miss Granger. It seems you have given this matter rather a lot of thought.'

'Yes, sir,' she said, blushing and looking down. 'I've...I've been doing some research on Muggle diseases and epidemics, sir. I...I have several medical texts that I borrowed from some doctors my parents know, you see.' Then she gasped. 'But, oh no! What if...what if one of those books is the one Voldemort wants?'

'Relax, Miss Granger,' said Dumbledore, holding up a placatory hand. 'I do not believe the book Voldemort is looking for is among the ones you're using. He is seeking a magical means of spreading this sickness, and he clearly thinks there is a book in Hogwarts somewhere that will contain the spell he needs.'

He glanced significantly at McGonagall and then at Snape. Ron saw their exchanged looks and knew they were all thinking the same thing, but whatever it was, they did not intend to share it with him or Hermione at the moment.

'I appreciate your diligence in this matter,' Dumbledore went on, 'but I must insist that if you wish to continue to investigate this, that you inform myself, Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape of your findings. It is vital that we are kept abreast of things. We must not have a repeat of the events of last term, do you understand? You are not to pursue this matter on your own. Voldemort's plans are ambitious, and as such he will spare nothing to achieve them. You and Mr. Weasley and especially Harry are in very grave danger, to say nothing of the other students. I insist that you obey me in this.'

'Yes, sir,' Ron and Hermione both mumbled.

'Severus, Minerva,' Dumbledore said, 'I think we need to go to my office and contact a few others who would find this information useful and be discreet about it.'

Snape and McGonagall both nodded and followed Dumbledore out of the hospital wing in a wave of robes.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, then down at Harry, who gave a soft moan and stirred.

'Harry!' Hermione said, as they both started toward his bed.

'Step back, you two,' Madam Pomfrey ordered. 'He'll be fine, but he's a bit feverish and I'd say he's had enough visions for one night. I'm giving him a dreamless sleep draught. You two clear off, you can see him in the morning.'

Hermione started to say something but Ron grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze to warn her not to argue the point. With one last mournful look at Harry, he and Hermione left the hospital wing, dreading what was in store for the next day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'You were right, Harry, something did happen those scientists,' said Hermione. 'They're dead.'

Ron and Hermione were sitting at the foot of Harry's bed in the hospital wing, and she was reading aloud from The Daily Prophet. It was early in the morning and Harry was to be discharged in about an hour, after Madam Pomfrey had examined him one more time. He looked very tired, Ron thought, but he was listening intently to Hermione and his eyes were clear and focused.

'It says here that the bodies of the three scientists were found outside a town called Little Hangleton, England,' Hermione went on. 'None of the bodies showed any outward sign of physical injuries and the Muggle authorities can't explain the cause of death, but the Muggle police say that it is too early to make any judgments and that they must conduct a thorough forensic examination before any cause of death can be determined.'

'Forensic examination?' Ron asked, confused.

'That's where Muggle police and scientists investigate a scene of crime,' Hermione explained. 'They take all sorts of samples from the body and from the area around the body and analyze everything to find clues as to what happened, who committed the crime, that sort of thing.'

'It was the Killing Curse,' Harry said quietly. 'It had to be. When Wormtail killed Cedric, there wasn't a mark on him.'

'I thought Voldemort killed Cedric,' said Ron.

'It was Wormtail,' said Harry. 'Voldemort just gave the order. He didn't have his own body yet. Little Hangleton, though. That sounds familiar for some reason, but I can't think of it.'

'If it was the Killing Curse, the Muggles won't be able to explain why three perfectly healthy men dropped dead,' said Hermione. 'Unless...'

'Unless what?' Harry asked.

'Well, maybe those scientists were forced by Voldemort to work on developing the virus, but then they got sick from it themselves,' Hermione said.

'But the article says there wasn't a mark on them,' Ron pointed out. 'I thought you said viruses did nasty things to your insides and made you bleed to death and stuff.'

'Not all viruses do that,' Hermione corrected. 'But, yes, you and Harry are probably right. I'm no expert but I've never heard of a deadly virus that didn't leave SOME kind of outward signs. Any trained medical examiner would almost certainly be able to spot some outward symptom of a deadly disease on a corpse. I guess the scientists stopped being useful to Voldemort.

'The article goes on to say that thus far Muggle public health officials have seen no reported cases of anthrax poisoning or Ebola infection. There've been several cases of viral pneumonia, one fatal, but all of them happened to very old people and being that it's the season for flu and pneumonia and that old people are more vulnerable to that stuff, they're not placing the blame of the missing samples from the labs,' Hermione said.

There was a silence as the three of them absorbed this latest news. Harry groaned out loud and ran his hand through his messy hair.

'Bill's right,' he said.

'Right about what?' Ron asked.

'I need to learn Legilimency,' said Harry. 'I've got to be able to get inside Voldemort's head by my own will. I can't rely on visions coming to me out of the blue.'

'But, Harry,' said Hermione, sounding nervous. 'That's so dangerous. What if Voldemort realizes what you're up to?'

'I don't think he would,' said Harry. 'I'm really good at Occlumency now, at least when I'm focused on it. Bill hasn't been able to get inside my head for weeks now.'

'Bill isn't Voldemort,' Ron noted. 'He's not trying to kill you.'

'Yeah, but if I don't start going after Voldemort he's just going to keep showing up in my head when I'm distracted and making my stupid scar hurt and whatever visions I get will be incomplete,' said Harry sharply. 'You don't know what it's like, okay? One minute I'm going along just fine and the next minute he's in there and everything hurts and I pass out. At least if I learn Legilimency I'll have some control over things. I'll be able to choose when I want to see what he's up to.'

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, then at Harry, and nodded.

'Just be careful,' Hermione said gently. 'Promise us you'll be careful.'

Harry took a deep breath, as though trying not to snap at her, but then he nodded and said, 'I promise. I'll have Bill help me, all right? He's really good at this stuff, he won't let me do more than I'm ready to do.'

'All right, you two!' a sharp voice said. Madam Pomfrey swept over to them, carrying a bottle of Dr. Malatesta's Migraine Mender and Headache Healer. 'I need to look over my patient. Off with you! You'll see him at breakfast.'

'See you soon, mate,' said Ron, clapping Harry on the shoulder, and he and Hermione left the hospital wing.

Harry did indeed rejoin them at breakfast, looking far better than he had just a short while earlier. Ron was pleased to see that despite the toll Harry's vision had taken on him, he managed nonetheless to eat a hearty breakfast.

The next few weeks were so cold that students took to layering and wearing mittens and hats inside the castle between lessons. Hermione was spending every spare moment looking through her medical texts; Harry had called off Quidditch practices due to the cold, but Ron was kept plenty busy with his own schoolwork and prefect duties.

On top of this Ron found no time to be alone with Hermione. This was partly her doing; she seemed determine not to break any rules after serving her detention. She purposefully avoided taking walks with him after dinner and went to bed early at night, each time giving Ron a quick peck on the cheek and a warm look, but nothing else.

Ron wanted to be understanding. He knew they were all trying to stay ahead of Voldemort's plans. He knew how important all of it was. But then he would see Harry and Susan walking off somewhere together and he would remember that he hadn't kissed Hermione in days and he would feel jealous. If Harry could tear himself away from the business of school work and fighting dark wizards to spend time with his girlfriend, why couldn't Hermione do the same for Ron?

Things became very frustrating for Ron after two weeks without 'alone time' with Hermione. They were sitting in the common room on the floor, diagonal to one another, books on the coffee table. Ron was attempting to finish his Potions essay, on the properties of belladonna, but his eyes kept straying back to Hermione. Her hair was curling like a halo around her face and she was reading with intense concentration. The tip of her tongue was touching her top lip and she kept trying to tuck her hair behind her ears, to no effect. The whole spectacle was driving Ron to distraction.

Focus, Weasley, he thought, turning back to his Potions essay; he'd manage to write about three lines in the past half hour. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and noticed that Hermione was tucking her hair behind her ears again. Then she bit her lip. That did it. Ron's self control snapped.

He put down his quill, leaned over to her and kissed her on the mouth.

'Ron!' Hermione protested, pushing him away. 'Honestly.'

'Oh, come on, 'Mione,' said Ron. 'You've been at this non-stop. I've hardly seen you at all. Can't you take a little break?'

'No,' Hermione hissed, her eyes not moving from the page. 'For one thing, we could get caught again, and I can't afford any more detentions if I'm going to get the time I need to figure out what Voldemort's up to.'

'You can't spare ten minutes for me?' Ron asked, pouting a bit. He reached over and ran a hand through her hair gently. 'Come on, 'Mione. Please? Five minutes. That's the first time I've kissed you in two weeks, for Merlin's sake--'

'Ron!' she snapped, brushing his hand away impatiently. 'This is important stuff I'm doing here. Do you want to stop Voldemort from killing Muggles-- and Muggle borns, I might add--or don't you? Because if you're not going to help me leave me alone.'

'I only--' Ron began. She wasn't being fair. He'd been TRYING to help her, trying to stay on top of his own responsibilities as well. And doing a fair enough job of it, considering how frustrated he'd been.

Meanwhile Harry was off with Susan somewhere doing who knew what (though Ron had a fair idea). All Ron wanted was one good quick snog!

'Honestly, Ron,' she went on. 'It'd be a fine thing, wouldn't it, for me to crawl into a broom closet with you instead of figuring out what virus Voldemort's trying to use. Do I really need to point out that if we don't figure this out before he does, I won't be around for you to snog because Voldemort and his cronies will have killed me and every other Muggle and Muggle-born around?'

Ron swallowed. She had a good point. Snogging would have to wait.

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm really sorry, Hermione.'

There was a brief silence, in which Hermione only nodded to him and continued to read. Ron watched her as she sighed in exasperation as her hair fell in her eyes again and shoved it behind her ears. She was biting her lip again. He swallowed again, very hard.

'You shouldn't talk about that.'

'About what?' Hermione asked impatiently.

'About you dying,' he said, his voice feeling slightly strangled. 'About you not...being around.'

Hermione looked at him and for a moment her eyes were sharp and Ron waited for her to rebuke him yet again. But then her eyes softened, and she smiled gently and reached up and placed a hand against his cheek.

Then she surprised him by leaning in and pressing her lips against his. Ron didn't move for a moment; he wasn't expecting her to kiss him and he was a bit nervous that if he kissed her back, he'd get...excited. But she moved her lips against his and he realized he really couldn't not respond, and as the kiss deepened and her hands raked into his hair he went with it and bloody hell, he got excited and tingly all over. But then she broke the kiss and he was left with more than a bit of discomfort in certain areas and he wondered if maybe they should have kissed at all because now he REALLY wouldn't get any work done.

'I'm not going anywhere just yet,' she said softly. 'Now, did that help?'

'Not really,' said Ron, without thinking. But she giggled.

'Boys,' she said, shaking her head.

Ron shifted, trying to find a more comfortable sitting position, without having much success.

'Can't help it,' he said, pouting again. 'Now I'll never get any work done.'

Hermione appraised him for a moment, then a little, mischievous smile came to her lips.

'If you help me with this stuff we'll get a lot more done and...and later we could, you know...do more of...what we just did,' she said.

'That's a bribe,' said Ron. A very good bribe, but a bribe all the same.

'You don't have to--'

'Pass me a book,' he said.

'Boys,' said Hermione again, handing him a heavy tome and smiling. He grinned at her, opened the book and began to read.

It took him a few minutes to focus his brain, but soon enough Ron was entirely concentrated on reading. It was confusing, difficult but ultimately fascinating material. He had never fully understood just how complex the human body was. Healers must have some understanding of this stuff, he thought, in order to be able to fix what was wrong with someone, but then, did wizards use machines like X- rays, which could see inside a person's body and take pictures of bones and organs? He was pretty sure there were no such machines in the wizarding world. And lasers--incredible! Tiny lasers that could operate to fix a single broken vein. Scanners and microscopes that could detect infections in the blood. Vacuum machines that sucked out fat cells.

'UGH!' Ron said, his eyes resting on a photograph inside the book. 'What the bloody hell is THAT?'

'Hmm?' Hermione looked over at Ron's page. It showed two photos of a woman, or rather, the hips and legs of a woman. One photo featured a fat, dimpled set of hips and legs and the other featured a thinner but horribly scarred and bruised set of hips and legs.

'Liposuction,' said Hermione.

'WHAT?'

'Liposuction. It's a procedure used to make a person look thinner,' she said. 'A cosmetic procedure. Rich people do it, it costs a ton of money.'

'Rich Muggles PAY to look like that?' Ron asked, flabbergasted.

'Well, that's a photo of the woman just a few days after the procedure,' Hermione explained. 'Presumably in about a month the bruises and scarring will lessen and she'll look normal.'

'That's really disgusting,' Ron said, turning the page.

'It's also completely irrelevant to what we're trying to find,' Hermione pointed out. 'Look at the index, under epidemics.'

'Right.'

Ron flipped to the back of the book, found 'epidemics' and flipped back to the appropriate pages.

'Malaria,' he read aloud. 'West Nile virus. Yellow fever. Scarlet fever. Typhoid. In- flu-en-za. En--en--kepaleetis. What?'

'Encephalitis,' Hermione said. 'Sleeping sickness.'

'Why can't Muggles name their diseases with stuff we can pronounce?' Ron grumbled.

'Most of the virus names come from Latin or ancient Greek,' Hermione explained.

'Oh, of course,' said Ron. Like that should be obvious, he thought sarcastically.

'Ron,' said Hermione, in that patient tone of hers she used when explaining something to him he didn't fully understand, 'a lot of our spells and charms ALSO come from Latin, you know.'

'Oh.'

'Hey,' said a third voice.

They looked up and saw Harry, whose face was flushed and hair was sticking up more than usual. He had just returned from, no doubt, a vigorous snogging session with Susan. Ron smirked and went back to his book.

'What are you doing?' Harry asked, sitting down on the sofa next to Hermione.

'Research,' Ron said, trying to pronounce yet another ten syllable Muggle disease. 'Want to join in?'

'Uh, okay,' said Harry.

'Did you have a nice time with Susan?' Hermione asked absently, as her eyes perused her own book.

'Uh, yeah,' said Harry, going red in the face.

Ron rolled his eyes. 'I can't believe you two haven't been caught yet.'

'We're more careful than you two,' said Harry smugly. Ron punched him in the arm.

'Harry!' said Hermione, looking up from her book and looking a bit scandalized. 'Really.'

'So,' Harry said, in a tone of voice that indicated all discussions of snogging were over and picking up another heavy tome from the coffee table and opening it, 'deadly epidemics, how lovely.'

'Yes,' said Hermione, sounding slightly impatient as she scanned over another page of her book.

'Dammit!' she said suddenly, slamming the book shut.

Ron and Harry both looked up from their own books. Hermione didn't swear often.

'What?' they both asked.

'It's no good,' she said. 'None of the diseases in this book fits. They're either too recent and have all sorts of treatments to counteract them or the symptoms are just too slow to start appearing.'

'But can't Voldemort just use magic to make it work faster?'

'Yes,' said Hermione, 'but to do that he's going to need an understanding of how the disease itself works, how to spread it AND how to come up with some kind of cure or antidote so that his own followers don't get sick, remember? He'll want a disease that's easy to replicate, and then he'll put together some antidote so he can inoculate himself and his cronies, and then he'll spread the disease around somehow. And however it spreads, it needs to spread easily enough that a lot of people get it, but not so easily that EVERYONE gets it. Something really communicable without being airborne.'

'Airborne,' Ron repeated. 'Like, it floats around in the air or something?'

'Exactly,' said Hermione.

Ron tried to absorb this but his brain was by now so completely exhausted reading about more diseases he couldn't pronounce (like diphtheria, trichinosis and cholera) that he could barely keep his eyes open. He and Harry went through a few more diseases with Hermione, but to a one she dismissed all of them as not being the right one. Finally, the three of them gave up for the night. Ron shut his book and rubbed his eyes.

'I'm turning in,' Harry announced, standing and stretching. 'You coming up, Ron?'

Ron started to say yes but then he looked at Hermione, who looked at him and then looked at the floor, then looked at him again. She was obviously trying to tell him something without saying anything out loud. Ron gave her an excused expression, and her eyes widened meaningfully and then she looked at the floor again. And suddenly he remembered. Hermione's bribe. He suppressed a grin.

'I'll be up in a bit,' he said, not looking at Harry.

'Right,' said Harry slowly. 'Well, don't let McGonagall catch you again. We don't want to lose any more house points.'

'Shut up,' said Ron and Hermione together, looking at each other.

But Harry was already starting up the boys' staircase, and Ron wasn't paying attention to Harry anymore, anyway, because before he even heard the soft click of the door to the boys' dormitory, indicating that Harry had gone inside, Ron was leaning over and pulling Hermione close and drawing her into a kiss.

'Ron,' she protested against his lips. But she had her arms around him all the same and she was smiling

'Hey, you promised,' said Ron, grinning and kissing her again.

She giggled, kissed him back for a moment and then pulled away.

'Let's, um, sit on the sofa,' she suggested softly, and she stood up.

Oh, game ON, thought Ron, practically leaping up from the floor. He kissed her again and kept on kissing her as they sat down on the sofa, and the excitement he felt earlier was nothing to what he was feeling now.

They were kissing harder now and the room began to spin and Ron was dizzy and her mouth tasted really good and he heard a gasp when he felt himself falling over on the sofa. He didn't know if she'd done it or he'd done it but now they were lying down and it was so much more comfortable than sitting up and Ron was tingling all over and his right arm was wrapped round her shoulders and his left hand was in her hair and then on her neck and then on her shoulder and he wondered if maybe he could get away with moving his left hand a little lower...no, he couldn't do that, she grabbed his wrist and moved his hand back to her hair. Damn. Well, her hair was nice, anyway. But then she had to go and move a little bit and he felt pressure...somewhere and he just had to move his damn hand but maybe instead of where he wanted to put it he could put it on her waist. Yes, that was safe. He did, and she didn't stop him, but she did keep kissing him and it was driving him crazy. That and her lilac smell, which came from her neck and he wondered what that part of her tasted like so he kissed her there and she sighed. Wow. Her waist was small and his hand slid a bit lower. When did she get that curvy thing going in her hip? He wondered if she had more soft girly curviness a bit lower and a bit further around...no, she wasn't going for that either and she grabbed his wrist again.

'Ron, wait,' Hermione gasped. 'Stop. We have to stop.'

'Okay,' said Ron, blinking. 'Sorry.' He stopped kissing her neck and she sat up and he lay there for a moment. It was so hot in the room now and he was breathing as though he'd just run up and down to the North Tower and back a dozen times. He closed his eyes and he wished the pressure down there would go away.

'It's okay,' said Hermione, and she sounded a bit out of breath, too. She was smoothing her hair down and smoothing her clothes and she wasn't looking at him, and she was blushing crimson.

'Are you...okay, Hermione?' Ron asked, finally able to sit up, sort of.

'I'm fine,' said Hermione. 'I just...it got a little...fast.'

'Right,' said Ron. 'Fast.'

'I mean, I just don't want to rush things,' she said, still not looking at him, but he kept looking at her.

'Right,' said Ron again. 'You're right.'

'I mean I've never, well, you know,' said Hermione.

'Well, I hope not!' said Ron indignantly.

'Ron.'

'Right, sorry,' he said quickly. 'I haven't...you know...either.'

'Oh,' said Hermione. 'Well, then...I just think...we should go slow.'

'Yeah,' said Ron.

'Are you okay?' she asked.

'Uh, yeah,' Ron lied.

'I mean, you don't mind if we take things slowly?' said Hermione, sounding nervous.

'I don't mind,' he lied. What else was he going to say? No, Hermione, I'm in a lot of pain right now and can we please shag right here on the sofa before I get brain damage?

Don't be a selfish prat, he thought to himself. She's your girlfriend and you, well, you love her, and she's the girl which means she's the one who gets to make decisions about...physical stuff and that's just the way it is.

'Are you sure you don't mind?' said Hermione.

'I'm sure,' he said, firmly.

'We should turn in,' said Hermione, standing up.

'Yeah,' said Ron, and he stood. She began to pick up her books and Ron helped her and he wished he could help her carry her books up to her room because that seemed like the kind of gallant, boyfriend thing to do, but he couldn't. He'd already learned the hard way that boys couldn't go into the girls' dormitories.

'You sure you can carry all those?' said Ron, as Hermione took the rest of the books from him and balanced them in a huge stack in her arms.

'I'm sure,' she said. 'Well, good night Ron.'

'G'night,' he said, and he leaned toward her but then stopped. 'Uh, is it okay if...if I kiss you good night?'

'It's okay,' she said. 'But...just a quick one.'

'Right,' said Ron, and he kissed her quickly on the lips.

'Good night,' she said again, and she started up the stairs. Ron stayed at the foot of the girls' staircase and watched her go; she stopped halfway and looked down at him.

'Ron, what are you doing?'

'Just making sure you get up there okay,' said Ron, blushing. 'You know, uh, in case you fall or something...'

'Oh,' she said, smiling. 'That's very...sweet.' She looked at him with that smile and then continued up the stairs.

Ron waited until he heard the soft click of her door closing before he started up the boys' staircase. He entered the dorm room in a kind of semi-dazed state; he headed to his chest of drawers, pulled out his pyjamas, and changed into them.

'Have a nice snog with Hermione?' Harry murmured.

Ron looked up to see Harry sacked out in his bed, his glasses off. He was smirking.

'Were you waiting up to hear the details?' said Ron, rolling his eyes as he climbed into his own bed, which was almost too small for him now.

'I was just curious,' said Harry, grinning.

'It was good,' said Ron. 'What about you and Susan?'

'Good,' said Harry. There was a brief silence before he said, 'Well, g'night, Ron.'

'G'night, mate,' said Ron, closing his eyes and falling asleep almost at once. He dreamed of Hermione.