Stress

Exams were just a little less than a month away for the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Teachers piled homework as tall as mountains onto the students' desks every class; they were required to read three times as many books as usual; and if that itself wasn't enough for the fifth years, they probably had double the more work than anybody, seeing to the fact they'd be taking their Ordinary Wizarding Levels this year. This was a big deal for Hermione and Emma. They were always rather frantic and snappy around exam time, but since this was the year for O.W.L.s, they were even worse.

Hermione would lock herself in their dorms, and wouldn't open the door for anybody, even Parvati, Lavender, and Emma, who she shared the room with. But Emma was usually busy studying behind a pile of books taller than herself in the corner of the common room late into the night. She would shriek and shout at anyone who even said hello to her, even if it was her own brother - let alone Ron.

Harry was often afraid of the two of them when they'd begin to go at it. Hermione hadn't yelled at Ron as much over the past years, but Emma seemed to increase her anger. She'd scold him if he sat next to her in the common room, claiming he couldn't be within ten feet of her while she was working. If she was reading a book at breakfast and Ron asked her to pass the butter, her head would blow up and she'd storm from the Great Hall yelling about the lack of peace in the world. On the weekends, when Ron tried to persuade her to play wizard chess, she'd throw a 600 page dictionary at him and threaten to destroy his chess set if he didn't stop asking her. Often times, when the yelling was kept to a minimum, Harry found them rather amusing to listen to.

One day, Emma's cat, Guinevere, had ripped up her essay for Astronomy in fury of Emma's lack of feeding her. Emma was so irritated at Guinevere's behavior that she literally kicked the cat out of the common room and into the corridor. She barricaded herself behind a 7-foot high wall of books and ordered everyone in the common room to leave. Ron had locked himself in his dormitory (which was one place he would never annoy Emma, Harry had pointed out) so Hermione dragged Harry out of the castle and onto the grounds to study. It was a cool, sunny, and breezy afternoon, and Harry didn't feel much like studying. But Hermione said they'd get more work done in the midst of no one outside instead of the midst of everyone in the library.

Hermione began to quiz Harry on the dates of the Gnome Revolution for History of Magic. He answered most of the questions wrong as he lay on his back, watching the clouds above him drift dreamily by.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded. "You're not going to find the answer to what date Jester the Juvenile led his army to attack Princeton in the clouds."

"How do you know...? Oh look, I think I see a 1780 up there..."

"It was 1870."

"Whatever."

Hermione groaned and fell down onto her back in exasperation. The clouds were nice to watch, she found herself thinking.

"It wouldn't hurt for you to take a break once in a while," Harry said.

"I know, but you need to tell that to Emma."

"Why? She'd just bite my head off."

Hermione giggled as a booming voice behind them said, "Who would bite yer head off, Harry?"
Harry and Hermione sat up and looked behind them. "Oh, hi, Hagrid," Hermione said. "We were just discussing the exams."

"And how my sister is ready to kill the first person who says hello to her in the morning."

"That's usual fer 5^th years around exams time," Hagrid said. "Don't worry about 'er. Care for a cup o' tea?"

They nodded in thanks and followed Hagrid to his hut. They sat down around the large table in the middle and discussed many things they hadn't with him in a long time over sweet cups of tea - school, teachers, Quidditch, Emma, Ron, themselves, new books Hermione had read, books Harry was supposed to, exams, this and that, that and this. It felt nice to talk to someone who wouldn't cast leg-locker curses on you just because you asked where your quill was.

After several hours, they said thank you and took their leave from Hagrid's hut. Harry helped Hermione haul all the books and work they hadn't done back up the school while Hermione complained about all the extra studying she would have to do to make up for this afternoon.

When they reached the Gryffindor tower, Harry peered in through the portrait hole cautiously. Relieved, he saw many other students working in the common room - many students except for Emma. He smiled at the fact that his fanatical sister had finally taken a break, or at least found something else to do for the time being.

Harry and Hermione threw their books down onto a table and Hermione got straight to work as Harry asked Ginny, who was sitting closest, why the common room was full again.

"Emma decided to let everyone back in about an hour ago. She had put a curse on the door that wouldn't open for anyone on the outside, but I guess she changed her mind or something because when I came back from the library, there weren't students sitting outside in the corridor anymore."

"Where is she?"

"Oh..." Ginny looked humorously at Seamus and Parvati, who were working at the table next to her. "Well, just a few minutes before you came back, Ron came down from his dorm - and he really shouldn't have."

"What happened?"

"He had Emma's cat by the tail and was..." Ginny paused for a little burst of laughter. "It's rather funny how he said it, actually. But he threatened to lock up the cat if Emma didn't take a break from work or stop screaming at him, in the least. It obviously annoyed him greatly, but I don't know why he even tried, because I could tell by your sister's mood that giving in to Ron's plan was not part of her schedule. She tried to ignore him at first, but then he shook the snarling cat in her face, and Emma stood so suddenly papers went flying and her chair fell back with a thud and that made us all look up. Her eyes were full of a fire I'd never seen before, and she took her wand out and said, 'If you don't give my cat back, you are going to be so sorry.'"

"No she didn't."

"Who's telling the story?"

"She wouldn't do that. Ron's her friend."

Parvati interrupted and said, "If I had come to Hogwarts for the first time today, I would've thought they hated each other from the day they were both born."

Hermione looked up and gave a snort of amusement that clearly meant they were all being foolish. "Emma wouldn't do anything to Ron. Sure, he may say the stupidest things at the worst of times, but within a week they'll both come around and act like nothing ever happened."

Parvati gave Hermione a look, as if to ask if she accused her of lying.

"What happened then? You still haven't told me where they are."

"Ron just smiled after that," Ginny continued, "and sprinted up to his dorms. Like you had told him, that was one place he thought he wouldn't annoy Emma, and she wouldn't shriek at him. But you were both wrong."

"What?"
"Yeah, she growled and then followed him up there - we were all watching - and turned right into the 5^th year boys' dorms and slammed the door. And no one's come out ever since."

Harry gazed at Ginny in disbelief, as if she had just told a story that on no means could ever be true. Emma wasn't like that - she wouldn't do anything to Ron. And Ron wouldn't do anything to her, or her cat. "They're just - playing around," Harry said lightly.

"Go see, then," Seamus said, nodding to the stairs.

Harry, rather worried about the whole situation by now, took one last look at the three of them and started up the boys' staircase. He knew they were friends, so what could they possibly do besides strangle each other? But then - he also knew how Emma could get - she would go to any limits at all just to conserve peace and quiet - and she was a skilled, fifteen year old witch. That startled him.

Harry crept silently up the boys' dormitory door to find it just slightly open. He peered inside, and the sight that met him was confusing, but when Harry let it sink in, he thought it was perhaps more serious than he had ever thought. Emma had never been into the boys' dorms - except on Christmas morning years ago. Emma wasn't allowed in the boys' dorms, and it was very rare that she would do something she wasn't permitted to.

Emma and Ron stood in the center of the room, about five feet apart, both their wands raised and fire burning in their eyes. What are they doing? Harry thought. It was an odd sight. Luckily, the room was empty, as both of them stared straight into each other's face. Are they going to duel? Harry thought. He had never seen his sister and best friend look like that before, never in his whole life. They'd fought on and off many times over the years, but they never looked threatening like that. Just then, Harry saw something sitting on the bed in a heap. It was Emma's cat, Guinevere. Then Emma spoke.

"Just leave me and my cat alone, Ron." She kept her wand steady. So did Ron as he responded.

"Why, so you can go on, torturing the rest of the school with your bloody nonsense about exams?"

"It's not nonsense, and it would do you some good to take a leaf out of my book. But you're just too darn stubborn."

"At least I'm not as wicked as you."

"I'm not any more wicked than you are stubborn." Emma's eyes burned with hatred as she stared straight into Ron's face, not blinking.

"You are spiteful, Emma Potter -"

"You don't even know what that means."
"- yelling at me just because I say hello to you in the morning, just because I sit next to you at breakfast, just because I care about you!"

There was a pause for a moment. Harry could've sworn he saw Emma's eyes shining behind all the fury - shining with tears.

"Just give me back my cat, and I promise never to talk to you again."

"Why should I?"

"Ron! Please give her back - don't do anything to her -"

"You have to say you're sorry."

Emma's tears disappeared as she gripped her wand harder. The fire was back as she said with malice, "Sorry for what?"

"Let's see...sorry for being cruel to the whole house, pushing them out just so you can study...sorry for being so mean to me when I'm supposed to be your friend -"

"Stop right there. First of all, it's your fault I had to ask the house to leave, because you told that joke to Fred and George, and they kept repeating it, and no one would shut up for an hour thanks to your little bit of humor. Or is your head so thick you forgot?"

Ron gritted his teeth as Harry shifted his weight to his other leg outside the door. Perhaps if he opened the door then, they wouldn't have to pull each other's hair out, but he had to admit, this was getting interesting...

"You bring all of your misery on yourself, Ron," Emma said. "I asked you before I began to study for exams to please leave me alone. But you didn't. You never do. This year is important, and I've had it with your immature behavior. I don't care what I have to do to get you to let me be." She narrowed her eyes and asked, "Do you find enjoyment in making me angry, in teasing me? You embarrassed me in front of the whole house down there, you know, going on about me being over-obsessive and how badly I treat everyone. Friends don't do that. And by looking at one of us and our actions, we are clearly not friends."

Ron spoke up after Emma's lecture right away, saying, "Yes, you're right, Emma. You're right."

Harry and Emma both raised their eyebrows in surprise as Ron added, "You're acting like such a prat that it's obvious you don't want anything to do with me."

Harry groaned at Ron's obstinacy as Emma's eyes began to well up with tears again. If Ron noticed, he didn't show it. Her voice wavered slightly, but it was still firm. "Do you even want anything to do with me?"

There was silence except for her small sniffling. The hairs on Harry's arms began to prick as he held his breath in, waiting for Ron's response.

"It depends."

Depends. That's all he had to say. What do you mean by that? Harry thought, a smile beginning to curl in the corner of his mouth.

"What do you mean by that?" Emma asked. Harry always thought they did have some sort of psychic twin connection. Well, if they did, Harry didn't want to think his thoughts too loud, or Emma might open the door and find him standing there.

Ron grunted for a minute, trying to find the right words. He lowered his wand, finally, and tossed it onto a bed aside him. Emma lowered hers, too, and dropped it onto the floor as Ron took a step closer.

"Well..." he began, not sure of what to say. Harry had a feeling coming on, a feeling he had had for many years...he silently pressed Ron on, praying he wouldn't say the wrong thing and send Emma exploding again.

"I need to tell you a story first," he said. Emma gave him a confused look while he started. "Before I came to Hogwarts, Percy had a friend. His friend and his other friend, who was a girl, were constantly fighting over stupid things; it was usually over who was right and who was wrong. One day, the girl went up to Percy's friend and asked the same thing you just asked me: 'Do you want anything to do with me?'"

"And what did Percy's friend say?"

Harry leaned closer, lying flat on the door and hanging onto Ron's every word, until something happened that he never imagined would. Emma, very unaware of what Ron did, was probably as surprised as Harry when Ron stepped further until he was but two inches away from Emma, leaned forward, and gave her what was unmistakably a kiss.

Harry gasped and almost lost his balance peering through the crack in the door. He couldn't see Emma's face, but when Ron pulled away and blushed, Emma stood there for a moment. She gently touched her mouth as if to ask, "Did that happen?" Then she gathered up Guinevere and walked quickly to the door - she pushed it forcefully open and Harry jumped back to avoid from being squished, but she didn't see him - she just continued down the hall and didn't stop until she got to her dorm door. She turned slightly, and even though she didn't see him, Harry could see a smile form on her lips. Then she went into her dorm and shut the door.

He couldn't believe it. Harry was amazed. Ron had kissed his sister. He had kissed her. Harry wondered if Ron would tell him what just happened - he didn't want him to know he'd been outside the door, listening to and seeing the whole thing. When Harry opened the door, he bit his lip to keep from smiling.

"Ron?"

Ron jumped when he heard Harry's voice. "Oh, hi."

"What was Emma doing in here?" Harry didn't want to be too persistent or Ron might notice something suspicious, but he wanted to get right to the point, all the same.

"Who?"

"Emma. I just saw her come out of here and go into her room."

Ron's ears reddened, but Harry pretended not to notice. Was Ron going to keep what he just did a secret? He decided to try again.

"Why was she in here?"

Ron shrugged. "Just saying, you know, the usual." He sighed pleasurably. "In the end, we made up, though."

Harry smiled. They did more than make up. But all he said was, "Oh, really? See, Ron, how nice it is to get along with Emma?"

"Yeah," Ron said, falling back onto his bed, a giant grin plastered over his face. "Really nice."

FIN