Left Unsaid

"Honestly, where has Harry gotten off to again?" Hermione asked as she came down the stairs into the common room. She walked over to Ron and Ginny, who were seated in front of the fireplace.

Ron looked up from the chess board in front of him; his Knight took Ginny's Castle with a loud crunch. "Don't know. I haven't seen him since Potions, now that I think about it."

"Something's not right. We should go look for him." There was another sound of destruction as Ginny took Ron's Bishop with a laugh. "It's not like him to not tell us where he's going," she persisted when Ron remained silent.

"Oh, come off it Hermione," he said. He sent his Queen toward Ginny's Knight. "If he wanted us with him he would have asked us along." SMASH. "Check, Ginny."

Hermione shook her head. "He's been disappearing a lot lately. I think it's time we figure out what he's up to."

"Are you sure you want to know?" Ginny asked. Her voice had a hard edge to it and she had an angry look on her face.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

Ginny didn't reply right away and Hermione wondered - not for the first time - what had happened between her and Harry. Both refused to discuss it and Ron and Hermione stopped asking after numerous angry outbursts from both Harry and Ginny.

"No reason," Ginny finally said, voice flat. She moved her Queen and Ron cackled in glee.

"Checkmate!"

Ginny huffed in annoyance as her King laid down in defeat.

"Want another go?" Ron asked, replacing the pieces on the board.

"No," she said tersely. "Once is plenty. Besides, I have work to do." She got up quickly and stalked upstairs. They heard a door slam above them.

"What's with her?" Ron asked.

"Harry, I expect." Hermione sighed, and rubbed a hand over her face. "She never wants to talk about him."

Ron frowned. "What do you reckon happened with them, anyway?"

"I don't know. Let's find Harry and see if he'll tell us. Besides, he's been gone for ages. I want to make sure he's all right."

"All right, lead the way. Although you know as well as I do that we won't find him if he doesn't want to be found."

"I still want to try," Hermione said stubbornly.

After nearly two hours of wandering around the school Hermione had to admit that Ron was right; she had no idea where to look for Harry and was starting to realize the fruitlessness of their search. She'd even tried a new location charm she'd just learned, but to no avail. She almost wished she'd nicked the Marauder's Map from Harry's trunk as it would have been a surefire way to locate him quickly, but she couldn't bring herself to borrow it without asking.

"I guess you were right, Ron," she finally said. They were standing in the entrance hall at this point. Somewhere Hufflepuff had just earned ten points; Hermione watched as ten golden pebbles dropped into the base of the hourglass.

"Should we head back, then?"

Hermione was about to reply when there was a loud thud from the broom cupboard to their right. Someone muttered a curse.

"What on earth?" Ron asked.

Hermione stepped across the hall and opened the door of the cupboard. A broom fell out of it and clattered on the stone floor. Ron gave a faint noise of distress.

For there was Harry. His shirt was half unbuttoned and he had a Slytherin tie in one hand. His jumper was hanging haphazardly off a giant rubbish bin behind him and he was regarding them with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. But oddest of all was Harry's companion, who was the last person she ever expected to find in a broom cupboard with Harry Potter.

"Hello," Draco Malfoy said with a smirk.

Malfoy's shirt was completely undone. There was a welt rising on his cheekbone that had probably come from the mop that was lying across the doorway blocking them in, and he had Harry's loosened Gryffindor tie in one hand.

Ron was wavering ever so slightly next to her. Malfoy noticed, saying, "Got a case of the vapors, Weasley?" and kicked an upturned bucket toward Hermione. It skidded roughly across the floor, stopping at her feet.

"Surprise?" Harry said then, a blush beginning to color his cheeks.

Ron made a strangled sound and Hermione shoved him down quickly to sit on the bucket.

She watched as Malfoy regarded Harry with a sort of lazy fondness before tightening his grip in Harry's tie and giving a tug. Harry leaned toward him and Malfoy kissed him soundly, sliding the tie from around Harry's neck to drop on the floor.

Ron gave a whimper and reached out to shut the cupboard. As the door clicked closed everything came together with sudden clarity and Hermione put her hand to her head in disbelief.

"Oh, poor Ginny," Hermione murmured. Ron made another noise in his throat.

Potions class today now made much more sense. Snape had once again partnered Harry with Malfoy and while Hermione had found it strange that Harry hadn't muttered any complaints she'd assumed that he just hadn't wanted to be the target of Snape's wrath, seeing as he'd already cost Gryffindor ten points by simply being in the class. They'd been adding the ingredients for a very complicated revitalizing draught when Harry and Malfoy's hands had brushed together; even from her seat behind them Hermione could feel the electricity when their hands touched. Neither boy seemed particularly disturbed by this - they'd simply carried on with their potion-making - but it had surprised Hermione not to hear any angry outbursts at all. Then there'd been the look shared between the two as everyone was gathering their things to leave, and Harry disappearing yet again after lessons....

She felt so stupid. It was so obvious now that she was really thinking about it that she couldn't believe she hadn't realized sooner what Harry was up to.

Hermione looked at Ron, who still looked completely shell-shocked. He closed his eyes then and tucked his head between his knees, breathing deeply.

"There is not enough Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover in the world to remove the image of Harry and ... and Malfoy from my brain. I'll never be right again!" His voice was quite dramatic and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, honestly Ron."

She stepped around Ron's bucket and opened the door. Harry and Malfoy were both regarding her curiously. They'd thankfully redressed themselves although she couldn't suppress a grin when she realized they'd mixed up their ties.

"I guess I don't need to ask any longer," Hermione said after a moment.

"Pardon?" Malfoy asked.

"We were going to ask Harry where he kept sneaking off to. But now we obviously don't need to."

Ron fell off the bucket then, muttering, "Ouch," when his head hit the floor rather hard. Hermione nudged him with her toe.

"I'm dead aren't I?" Ron asked, nose pressed flat against the floor. "I've died and now I'm stuck in hell. An eternal hell of watching Harry and Malfoy doing things in cupboards. The world hates me." His voice would have been a wail had he not still been facedown on the ground.

"Oh, get up, Ron. Let's head back up to the Tower."

She helped Ron to his feet and led him to the staircase. He was still looking back at Harry and Malfoy in disbelief, his mouth working but no sound escaping.

"You might want to change your ties before you go to dinner!" she called over her shoulder.

Laughter filled the entrance hall as she tugged Ron up the steps with a grin.