Rating:
PG-13
House:
Schnoogle
Characters:
Harry Potter
Genres:
Action General
Era:
Multiple Eras
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Stats:
Published: 11/24/2002
Updated: 04/06/2003
Words: 29,340
Chapters: 7
Hits: 8,697

Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye

Lucy-Liza

Story Summary:
Sequel to Harry Potter and the Magic Within. Harry's sixth year is coming up and things are a little different: he lives with his godparents, Ron and Hermione have feelings for each other, and when Harry reads an ancient myth, things take a turn for the darker. Please read Magic Within before attempting this fic.

Chapter 02

Chapter Summary:
Sequel to Harry Potter and the Magic Within. Harry's sixth year is coming up and things are a little different: he lives with his godparents, Ron and Hermione have feelings for each other, and when Harry reads an ancient myth, things take a turn for the darker. Please read Magic Within before attempting this fic.
Posted:
12/05/2002
Hits:
921
Author's Note:
And here we are with Chapter 2... A bit of action, a bit of worry, a bit of uncertainly and plenty more... Enjoy, and please review!

Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye

Chapter Two -

Harry hit the water hard, and straight away, as though he had weights tied to his ankles, began to sink. He tried to swim up to the surface, but the current made it impossible,

Harry couldn't hold his breath much longer, and just as he was about to give up, a tingly sensation passed through his right arm and he found that he could breathe.

He didn't have gills, like when he ate Gillyweed for the second Triwizard task, he could just breathe as though he was in an oxygen bubble or as though the water around him was not really the sea, but an illusion.

Harry partly wished it was only an illusion. He wanted to get back up to the beach.

He looked around to see dark murky water. Once again he tried to swim upwards, but it seemed he really was an awful swimmer, because he couldn't beat the current.

He wondered fleetingly whether he would have to live under water forever, then he quickly stopped thinking that, it was an awful thing to think, and wouldn't help.

He saw something move in the shadows, and whirled around, striking his head on a big rock and making everything go black.

*~*~*

Hermione looked out at the water. Ron's head came up again and he started to swim back to the rocks.

"I can't find him! I can't see anything! What do we do?!" he sounded as panicky as she felt.

"We have to get someone," Hermione replied shakily. Ron nodded and asked who. "Dumbledore?" She suggested.

"Yes, good. But how do we get Dumbledore without waiting a day for an owl to get to him?"

"We use this," and Hermione pulled out a small shell encrusted with gems. "Dumbledore gave me one, and Sirius and I think your parents. It's for if something happens to Harry while we're with him." She tapped it twice with her wand.

Ron looked at the waves, biting his lip. It had been his stupid idea to go to the furthest rocks.

Albus Dumbledore appeared behind Ron, making Hermione scream in surprise. Ron whirled around and then he and Hermione launched in to panicky explanations of the situation.

"Calm yourselves, please," Dumbledore said; his face was grim. "I know what has happened and I have alerted the Ministry Missions Department. They will be searching below the waters about - now. They are Apparating and they have tracking devices. But tell me, how long since Harry fell in?" His eyes held no sparkles anymore.

"Half an hour, maybe a little more," Hermione said quietly. She and Ron heard Dumbledore sigh as he turned away.

*~*~*

When Harry woke up, he remembered where he was as he rubbed his sore head.

Then he remembered having seen something in the shadows and looked around warily.

He didn't know how long he had been out, but he had the impression it had been a long time, though he couldn't have said why he thought this.

In had, in fact, been hours and hours and Ron and Hermione were at that moment sitting around the Granger's kitchen table drinking a hot drink, waiting to hear from Dumbledore.

As Harry tried to use the rock to pull himself upwards, he saw movement in the shadows again.

Then the creature was no longer in shadow at all and if Harry had not been so shocked, he would have screamed

It was what can only be described as a Sea Serpent. It looked to be about twenty feet long and was dark green in colour.

Then it hissed, but Harry heard it speaking.

"Good. I was-s getting, sss, hungry."

"You shouldn't eat me, you know, I think I'm out of season," Harry hadn't expected to hear himself, he expected bubbles instead, but he heard himself hissing back at the Serpent.

The snake looked taken aback upon hearing, and understanding, Harry.

"What, sss, are you?"

"A wizard," Harry replied, wanting to keep the thing talking so it could not think of its stomach.

"Sss, I heard about wizards, sss. Can all wizards talk to snakes and serpents, sss?"

"No, very few can actually," Harry answered.

"Sss, so you are one of the few. Tell me, what is a wizard doing down here?"

"I fell in but I can't get back up."

"Ah! Do you want me to take you up, sss?"

Harry was momentarily speechless. He was very surprised indeed. He also wondered if it was a trick, but the Sea Serpent seemed genuine enough.

"Well, um, yes, if you wouldn't mind."

"Certainly. Climb on. I shall, sss, take you around this side of the tall rocks so I shall not be, sss-seen."

Harry climbed on the Serpents back. It was a little like sitting on a broomstick.

The snake wound its way between the plants and stones. Harry almost slipped off a few times.

Then Harry saw something shimmer on the sea-bed that made him ask the Serpent to pause a moment.

Upon sliding off the big snake's back and picking the object out of the sand, Harry saw that it was a jewel pendant of some kind.

He couldn't see too well through the dark water, so, with a shrug, he pocketed it. It seemed of no value, but something made him want to keep it. Even if it was no more than a pretty thing, he could use it as a good luck charm - he felt he needed one anyway.

He apologised for the hold up, and the snake carried on, rising further and further upwards.

Harry noticed no change in the light front, so he had to assume it had grown dark.

"Hold on," hissed the Serpent, so Harry did.

They broke the surface and Harry shivered in the night air.

The snake slithered over to some of the close rocks and Harry hopped on to them.

"Thank you very much," Harry thanked the Serpent, who nodded and bid Harry a farewell before dipping under the waves and out of sight. What an odd day, Harry thought vaguely.

*~*~*

Dumbledore told Ron and Hermione to leave the beach and have a hot drink back at the Granger's within an hour of his arrival.

Before they finally left, he told them that Sirius and Genevieve had been contacted and that they were packing at top speed to come back.

He also told them that he would tell them if there was any luck finding Harry as soon as anything happened.

Ron and Hermione left reluctantly and sat silently at the Granger's kitchen table for a long time.

Mr and Mrs Granger sat talking to one of Dumbledore's friends in the sitting room answering little questions such as, 'When did they leave to the beach?'

These questions seemed pointless, but Mr and Mrs Granger wanted to do something and were happier when they thought they were helping.

Ron hadn't touched his mug of tea. It was stone cold and un-drunk though he held it between his hands and stared at it, looking white as a sheet.

Hermione was much the same except she seemed like she wanted to speak but couldn't and her drink was half drunk.

Ron finally seemed to come back to reality. He picked up the mug to drink only to spit it out when it tasted old and ice cold.

"Ugh!" he exclaimed, and, as he wiped his mouth with a grimace and looked around for a cloth to wipe the table, the tension seemed to be broken and Hermione started laughing.

Ron still pulled a face as he wiped the table with a jay cloth.

"Wasn't funny," he muttered, and Hermione finally stopped laughing as she wished Harry had seen Ron's face.

"Everything happens to him, doesn't it?" Hermione sighed looking into her mug miserably.

Ron looked up sharply as they seemed to have refused thinking or talking about Harry since he fell in the sea.

"I - I suppose it does," he faltered.

"It's all so unfair!" Hermione picked up the mug and threw it at the opposite wall.

"Hermione!" Ron cried.

"I'm sorry, Ron, but I can't stand it! We don't even know if he's alive! He could be dead at the bottom of the sea for all we know and there's nothing we can do but sit and wait for news!"

Ron stared as Hermione paced the kitchen in a nervous rage very un-Hermione-like.

"Just - calm down," Ron said, standing up and taking her by the shoulders.

"Ron, I - I think we've lost him," she was crying now. Ron swallowed, and then patted her back as she cried on his shoulder.

He closed his eyes, trying to stop them burning and bit his lip as he heard her muffled cries.

*~*~*

Harry, shivering slightly, started to make his way towards the road from which he, Ron and Hermione had come out on to the sea front from.

It was harder to judge this accurately in the dark, but he chose the road with the familiar-looking end house and started on his way up the sloping street.

He wondered if his absence had caused any trouble. He hoped it hadn't.

As he walked, he tried to warm his hands by stuffing them in his pockets. His hand felt the object he had pocketed in the sea.

Standing under a street lamp, he could see that the pendant was in the shape of an emerald eye. It looked like a snake's eye and sparkled as he turned it. The bright green shone and twinkled.

Then, and Harry wondered if perhaps he needed his glasses back after all, he could have sworn it winked.

In an instant, Harry saw a small flash and he saw himself walking further up the street he was on. He watched as he saw himself trip up, then walk faster up the road.

The sight passed and he was looking around under the lamppost again.

He hurriedly put the Serpent's Eye in his pocket and left up the street, his mind rather confused.

He was paying little attention to his surroundings, and so, when his shoe caught on a paving slab, he tripped up, just as he had seen himself do.

He stood up, amazed, then hurried up the road, faster, in the hurry to get back to the Granger's and to think of something less disturbing than the small pendant he had pocketed without thinking.

*~*~*

Ron and Hermione stood there huddled in the kitchen, for some time, though they had no idea how long.

"Um, Hermione?' Ron eventually said.

"Yes?" came the muffled reply.

"I think my foot's gone to sleep. We've been standing here for ages."

"Sorry," Hermione smiled briefly. They both sat down again, Hermione feeling slightly embarrassed from having lost it like she did, and Ron feeling increasingly anxious.

He couldn't begin to imagine what would happen if Harry didn't come back.

Then, a knock at the back door made them both jump and whirl around.

It was Ron who got up, thinking that Sirius and Genevieve may have arrived.

It wasn't them though.

Harry stepped in to the house rubbing his cold hands and looking a little guilty, as though he was arriving late for a party. He smiled weakly, feeling tired all of a sudden.

Ron stood with his mouth open for a moment, then he rushed at Harry and hugged him, Hermione jumped up and did likewise, crying again.

"Yikes!" Harry exclaimed, rubbing his sides when the bone-breaking hug ceased.

"Harry! I can't believe it! I had started to think you were dead!" Hermione cried, hands over her mouth and looking Harry up and down as though checking he was all there.

"Dead? No, I'm not dead, thank you very much," Harry replied sitting down and pushing back his wet hair. "I'm a bit wet, of course, but I didn't drown."

"Where on earth have you been?" Ron cried, sitting next to his water-soaked friend.

"I was in the sea," Harry said.

"All this time?" Ron said, with a laugh.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"What?" Ron and Hermione both frowned.

"I must have done some Wandless magic," Harry said thoughtfully, "and I could breathe, which was just as well because I couldn't swim up against the current, and I got knocked out when I hit a rock down there."

Hermione winced. Ron still looked confused.

"If you couldn't swim back up," Ron said slowly, "then how did you manage it when you woke up again?"

"I met a Sea Serpent. He was really quite nice. He offered to take me up." Harry grinned, though he was still shivering.

"A - a Sea Serpent?" Hermione repeated faintly. Harry nodded. "Amazing!" she whispered.

"We better say you're back," Ron said, standing up. "Dumbledore has a search going."

"A search?" Harry said surprised. "Oh dear. I've caused a fuss."

"It was just an accident, you didn't do it on purpose," Ron said reasonably, "it's just that everything seems to happen to you." He glanced at Hermione, who blushed as he repeated her words.

When Ron led the way into the hall, Dumbledore was standing at the front door telling Mrs Granger that there had been no sign of Harry at all.

"Professor!" Hermione called. "Take the search off, Harry's here. He came back!"

Dumbledore peered past her to where Harry stood, feeling embarrassed at the fuss that had been made.

"Ah!" Dumbledore smiled again. "You had us a little worried, Harry." His eyes twinkled once more.

"Sorry," muttered Harry.

"No need for you to be sorry. I'm just glad you turned up. Mrs Granger, may I use your fireplace? I must inform Harry's godparents of his safe return to us. They were planning to come immediately. They need not cut their honeymoon short now."

Mrs Granger nodded mutely, and let Dumbledore pass through to the sitting room.

Harry, Ron (who looked confused at the sight of the television) and Hermione followed Dumbledore to the fireside.

Dumbledore gestured with his hand and the fire sprung to life in the fireplace. It turned green and Sirius' head appeared looking worried and flustered.

"What's happened? Where is he? Professor, what is it?" Harry had never seen Sirius look so worried and scared.

"We have found Harry," Dumbledore said simply, though not smiling or with shining eyes.

"Oh no! Tell me he wasn't - I mean - oh no!"

Sirius obviously had the wrong idea. Harry was just about to rush forward and put him straight, when Dumbledore fixed the matter.

"You misunderstand, Sirius," he said gently. Sirius looked up from his hands.

"W- what?"

"Harry is fine," Dumbledore said clearly. Sirius' head looked frantically around what he could see of the room.

"Where is he? Where is he?" he cried. Harry could hear what must have been Genevieve crying out in the background.

Dumbledore nodded to Harry, who came to sit in front of the fire in Sirius' view.

"Harry! Thank goodness! What on earth happened?"

"Not much really. I fell in, then a bit of wandless magic made it possible for me to breathe, I hit a stone and got knocked out, then I met a Sea Serpent who gave me a ride up to the surface."

Sirius looked like he had been frozen. Dumbledore smiled faintly. Ron wanted to laugh, and Hermione had to punch his elbow to stop him.

"Okay," said Sirius slowly, "well, I am so glad you're alright. We'll be there shortly."

"No, don't come. Don't ruin your honeymoon," Harry said earnestly. "I'm fine, you don't have to come back." Sirius looked doubtful. "I insist," Harry added.

"Well, alright," Sirius nodded. "But, please, take care and try not to have any more 'accidents'." He smiled at Harry, and then disappeared.

Dumbledore looked up at Harry, his penetrating gaze made Harry shiver even more. Dumbledore noticed.

"You need to get a change of clothes, and warm up," he said smiling. Now Ron did laugh. Hermione punched his arm and made him stop with an 'Ow!'

When Harry lay in bed that night, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to the pendant he'd found. There was something odd about it. Still, it would do no good to worry about it now. Harry fell asleep, looking forward to a less eventful summer time.

*~*~*

The shadows met in a circle. It had been a long time since they were last called.

The Dark Lord stood encircled by his Death Eaters.

"You may be wondering where I have been," he started in his high, cold voice. There were murmurs of assent from the surrounding group.

"I had been detained. Thwarted, for a time. But I used the time wisely. I have been working, once more, at reaching my goal of immortality. I have had progress, though the magics have been slow."

The Death Eaters stood unmoving.

"So, now, my friends, I can safely say I am almost invincible. No little brat shall stop me now. Still, I make it my first task to bring Harry Potter down. Then I shall make bigger plans." He paused for a moment, pacing around the ring.

"We have people missing," he said sharply.

"My Lord," came a voice to the left of Voldemort.

"Yes, Crabbe?"

"Malfoy, Nott, Avery and Wormtail are all in Azkaban. They were caught, all of them."

Sparks of anger seemed to fly from Voldemort's red eyes.

"Then we must get more Death Eaters recruited," he said acidly.

The Death Eaters all nodded and murmured their same views.

"Silence!" Voldemort cried. "I have work for you all to do. There is much to be done."

"My Lord, surely we could do other business before we take down Harry Potter?"

The whole ring immediately knew the Death Eater had gone too far.

"You question my methods? My plans?" The cold voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife's blade.

"No, no, no, my Lord, I just thought -"

"I do not care what you think! But you could do with caring what I think. Do you know what I am thinking now, Severus Snape?"

Snape nodded mutely.

Voldemort clapped his long spidery hands and cried, "Crucio!"

Snape fell to his knees yelling out in the pain.

*~*~*

Harry felt his scar burning under his hands, which were closed over it, as he sat up in bed shaking, the screams still echoing in his head.

"Harry?" Ron said groggily. "Whatsamatter?"

"Um, oh, nothing," Harry took his hands away as the pain died down a little. Then he got a shock.

His hands were red. His scar was bleeding. When Harry jumped out of bed and saw the blood stained pillow and sheet, Ron sat up blinking.

"What are you doing -" then he stopped as he saw the blood. "Harry!" he exclaimed, finding no other word to say.

"My scar," Harry muttered. "It was my scar."

*~*~*

Ten minutes later, Harry had told Ron about his dream and they both sat on Ron's blood-free bed.

"This is a nightmare," Harry muttered suddenly.

"I wish it was. Then we could wake up," Ron sighed.

"Just being near me puts people in danger. There isn't a word that stresses how much I hate that."

Ron patted Harry on the shoulder.

"We all know that, we don't care," he said.

"I bet Cedric cared," Harry said softy.

Ron swallowed, trying to say something encouraging, and sighed when he couldn't think of anything to say. That was Hermione's job. She had all the words.

Then the door opened and Hermione came in with curlers in her hair and wearing a pink dressing gown.

"What are you doing up?" she yawned. Ron pointed at Harry's bed.

"Harry!" she cried.

Harry fleetingly wondered why that was what most people seemed to do when confronting such things: yell his name.

"What on earth happened? Are you okay?"

While Harry went to the bathroom to wash his hands and face, Ron filled Hermione in.

Looking at the mirror, Harry saw that his scar wasn't actually a scar. It was like he a newly made cut.

He shivered and went back to the bedroom.

Hermione was pacing, Ron was sitting, picking absentmindedly at the bed sheet.

"Do you feel okay, Harry?" Hermione asked squinting at him.

"Um, yeah," Harry replied, puzzled.

"But your scar is like a newly made cut, I suppose," she said knowingly.

Harry nodded, lifting his scar for her to see.

"When you wake up tomorrow, it will be a scar again. I read about something similar once. Not quite the same, of course, but the same rules should apply."

"I think that when Sirius and Genevieve get back from their finished honeymoon tomorrow, Harry should go back home with them," Ron said, staring out of the window.

"Why?" Harry asked surprised.

"You-Know-Who is still after you, and so I think you should be staying with Wizards and who better than your godparents."

"Ron's right, Harry," Hermione nodded. "There isn't much more of the summer left anyway. Only a week and a bit."

"But we always spend the end of the summer together, or at least almost always," Harry said sadly.

"Yeah, well, I guess this will be an almost occasion," Ron said.

"No, wait, it won't be," Harry grinned, the other two waited for enlightenment. "I have been to both your houses, the Burrow almost every summer after Hogwarts, but I haven't had a home to invite you back to. I do now, and so it's pay back time."

Ron grinned. "Wicked." Hermione giggled and thought it was a wonderful idea.

They all agreed to go to sleep for the rest of the night. Harry changed the sheets and pillow before he lay down. By the time he did, Ron was snoring.

*~*~*

Mr and Mrs Granger were more than happy to have the house wizard-free again.

Harry and Ron left through the fireplace first so Hermione could take her time saying goodbye to her parents.

Sirius and Genevieve jumped when Harry and Ron fell out of the fireplace in the kitchen.

"Hey!" Sirius grinned at them, and hugged Harry. "What are you doing here?"

"Harry thought it was about time he got to invite people to his house for a change," Ron grinned.

Sirius nodded in understanding, and was then informed of Hermione's arrival too.

"That's no problem," Genevieve smiled, "there are plenty of rooms."

After Ron had left his bag in Harry's room, and Hermione had arrived, Harry told Sirius and Genevieve about his scar bleeding while Genevieve stood by the stove cooking.

"Bleeding?" Genevieve sounded horrified, puzzled and worried all at once. Harry nodded.

"I'll have to mention it to Dumbledore tomorrow," Sirius looked thoughtful.

Harry walked out of the kitchen and in to the sitting room to see a funny sight.

Ron was fighting Hermione for what looked like the television remote control. The Tele kept changing channels as Ron or Hermione hit buttons while fighting over it.

"Um, what's going on?" Harry spoke up. Hermione hopped out of Ron's way and threw the remote at Harry's head. He caught it, looking puzzled.

"Don't let him get it or you will never touch it again," Hermione called laughing. "He can't keep away from the Tele!"

Ron started across the room at Harry.

"Let me see it," he complained. Harry threw it back to Hermione. "Oh, I give up," and Ron sat looking grumpy on the carpet.

"Here," Hermione was gasping with laughter as she passed he control to Ron's hand. He grinned and pointed it at the television screen, then changed the channel every few seconds, and trying to watch three television programmes at once by flicking between them.

Watching it, Harry got a headache. Hermione was soon asleep on the sofa.

*~*~*

Harry spent three wonderful days with Ron, Hermione and Sirius and Genevieve.

After talk to Dumbledore, all Sirius could say to answer the bleeding scar mystery was that Dumbledore took it as a sign of Voldemort getting stronger.

It was awful news, but even such a thing as that could be forgotten when Harry walked a little way down the sloping hill on which Stella Athelstan (the name of Harry's new home) stood half way, and then they came to a lovely little stream in which Harry, Ron and Hermione walked and paddled in while talking and jumping over for dares.

If they walked up the slope to Star Point, as it was commonly known, they could see the stars very clearly after dark.

The garden was always pleasant to sit or lie around in, and Ron could always be kept entertained by putting on the Tele and sitting him in front of it.

On the fourth morning, Harry woke up late and by the time he was changed in to his jeans and got down to the kitchen, Genevieve was already serving up bacon and sandwiches with her wand.

"Morning," Ron said through his sandwich. Harry sat between him and Hermione. Sirius was hiding behind the Daily Prophet opposite them.

"Ah!" exclaimed Genevieve. "Hogwarts letters!"

As she started passing out the three letters, Harry felt suddenly dizzy, then he blinked and he saw Ron jumping up and down beside him yelling, "I'm a prefect, I'm a prefect!"

He saw Hermione jump up and down on his other side and she too started shrieking excitedly about becoming a prefect too.

When he blinked again, he felt Ron shaking his shoulder.

"Harry? Harry?" he was saying.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. Congratulations Ron, well done."

Harry saw that Ron was looking utterly confused. He turned to Hermione, who looked worried and puzzled. Genevieve and Sirius were looking at him uncertainly.

"Congratulations for what?" Ron asked slowly. Harry looked down at the table to where Ron had let the open letter fall, but he saw it lay there in Ron's hand unopened.

Harry remembered walking back to the Granger's from the beach and he put his hand into his pocket and felt the Serpent's Eye.

Everyone was still looking at him for an answer.

"Um, just read your letter, Ron," Harry said, opening his own and looking down at the books list.

In a moment, Ron and Hermione's shouts were filling the kitchen. Harry grinned at them.

Genevieve and Sirius clapped and cheered the new sixth year Gryffindor prefects.

Ron and Hermione sat down looking flushed with excitement.

"Are you a prefect too, Harry?" Hermione asked, out of breath.

"No, just you two," he ate some of his sandwich.

"But - then - how did you know?" Ron spluttered.

"What do you mean?" Harry said, trying to sound casual.

"You said 'congratulations' before I had opened my letter. If you hadn't opened your letter and seem the list of Prefects along with your name there too, how did you possibly know?" Ron looked bewildered, Hermione curious. Genevieve and Sirius weren't paying attention.

Harry felt uncomfortable. He wasn't very clear on this point himself, all he knew was that he had been in contact with this pendant in his pocket twice, and both times he saw a few minutes in to the future.

"Erm - I figured you would be one, Ron," he invented, for in truth he had guessed Hermione but never thought of Ron being elected before, "and it wasn't hard to realise Hermione here would be made Prefect."

If Ron and Hermione were not one hundred percent convinced, they shrugged it off for the moment and went on talking about being elected prefects.

"Mum should be happy," Ron laughed, "but I will most certainly not be as awful as Percy when he was one."

"Oh, it'll be great fun," Hermione grinned, "going to meetings, keeping the younger Gryffindors in order..."

Ron looked a little like he suspected that those were going to be the least fun parts of being a Prefect.

"You can take points off Slytherins and use the Prefect's bathroom," Ron said dreamily.

Harry smiled as he ate the remaining piece of his sandwich.

*~*~*

Harry spent a while in the sitting room watching the Tele, (which was only in the house because Genevieve had always had one since her Muggle grandmother had one) while Ron and Hermione popped upstairs to put their letters in their away and send owls to both their houses to tell them the news.

He was getting slightly impatient and wanted to walk down to the stream, so he went upstairs to fetch them.

When Harry reached his half- open bedroom door he was shocked to see Ron and Hermione kissing.

Hermione had her hands on Ron's shoulders as she stood on tiptoes. Ron was bent slightly to be less tall.

Harry gaped. Then, when he could remember how his legs worked, he backed away from the door and walked out to sit on his bench in the garden.

His mind fizzed. He wondered whether that was a first kiss or if they had been dating secretly for ages without him noticing. If they had, they had been hiding it very well.

When Sirius sat on the bench next to him, he jumped.

"Oh, did I startle you?" Sirius smiled pleasantly.

"Oh, um, no, I was just thinking about something," Harry said absentmindedly.

"About what?"

"Ron and Hermione," Harry replied, almost unaware he was talking.

"Ah," Sirius sighed. "Those two are crazy about each other and they don't seem to see it at all."

"Well, I think they got glasses cause they seem to see it better now," Harry's eyebrows were raised.

"Really?" Sirius smirked.

"They're kissing in my bedroom," Harry said, and the words echoed through his head like words do in an empty room. Sirius seemed rather taken aback.

"So, they didn't tell you? They have been dating and they haven't told you?" It sounded awful when it was said out loud.

"They might not have. That could have been their first ever kiss. I don't know either way."

"Well, you'll find out when it comes up, I guess," Sirius said, though he sounded doubtful, and he left.

Harry wasn't sure what he thought. If they had been hiding the truth from him, he couldn't see why. If this had just started then it still meant big changes.

Oh well, he thought. Take things as they come.