Jigsaw Puzzle

Ron didn't speak much for the rest of breakfast, thinking. Why was he angry at Hermione? Oh, yes. Krum. Viktor Krum. Why did it bother him so much if she was with Krum or not? Why? He certainly couldn't explain it to Hermione when he didn't even know himself.

"Just admit it. You're jealous," said something inside of Ron, perhaps his conscience.

"Why should I be?"

"You're jealous because you fancy Hermione yourself."

"Maybe I fancy her just a bit, but that's all. It'll go away after a while. It wouldn't work anyway. I mean...Me and Hermione? You've got to be kidding."

"But it doesn't seem to be going away, does it? What about what happened just now?"

"That was nothing...We're friends, after all..."

"Just look at her. Look at her for ten seconds thinking of her only as a friend."

Ron looked surreptitiously over at Hermione. She was reading The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5, a look of concentration on her face. She was the same old Hermione. She had probably memorized the whole book already...

A stray strand of hair ending in a small curl fell across Hermione's eyes as she turned a page, and Ron had the sudden desire to reach across the table and tuck the strand behind Hermione's ear...No, he hadn't just thought that. He had not just thought that. People who were just friends didn't think thoughts like that. Normal thoughts...Normal, rational thoughts...

Hermione tucked the stray strand behind her ear herself with no lapse in her concentration. There wasn't much that could distract Hermione when she was reading. She was kind of cute when she was concentrating so much-

"NO!" thought Ron. "I did not just use the word cute to describe Hermione!"

Hermione looked up from her book, and Ron looked quickly away, taking a bite of his toast, his heart skipping a beat and his ears turning red.

"Is something wrong, Ron?" said Hermione.

"No, I'm fine," Ron replied quickly, not bothering to swallow the toast first.

"Are you sure-"

"I'm fine!"

"Fine. Don't tell me," Hermione snapped, returning to her book.

Ron looked miserably down at his plate, chewing slowly.

"See, you couldn't even look at her for just ten seconds without thinking of her as more than a friend."

"I still think it'll go away."

"Suit yourself, but I think it won't. In the meantime...You're not angry with Hermione anymore, are you?"

"No..."

"Then apologize. Wouldn't that make you feel a bit better?"

"But she's still angry..."

"Maybe she won't be if you apologize..."

"How?"

"Just say it. Right now."

"Now?"

"Why not?"

Ron had just made up his mind that he would apologize to Hermione, when the bell rang, and Hermione was immediately off.

"What do we have first?" asked Harry of Ron.

Ron looked down at his schedule and groaned. "Divination."

"At least we'll get it over with," said Harry.

"Yeah..."

"Since today is our first day back together," said Professor Trelawney when her class had assembled, "We shall start with something you are quite familiar with...Tea leaves."

Harry and Ron groaned, but they couldn't be heard above the excited shouts of Parvati and Lavender.

"See anything?" Harry asked dully after he and Ron had traded teacups.

"Hmm..." Ron pretended to be deep in concentration. "Yes! I see something!"

"What?" Harry asked incredulously.

"It appears to be a number...five." Ron replied, though he really saw nothing of the sort.

"Which means...?"

Ron looked down at his watch. "That Professor Trelawney shall predict your death within five minutes of my making this statement."

Harry laughed. "What do you really see?"

"A load of soggy brown stuff, as always."

Harry looked down at Ron's teacup, which he was holding. "Same here. There is a part of the soggy brown stuff that's a bit of a different color, though..." Harry looked at the teacup from some different angles. "...but it doesn't look like anything to me."

Ron began looking more closely at Harry's teacup, checking his watch every now and then.

Professor Trelawney came over. "May I be of assistance?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer, took Harry's teacup from Ron. She gasped, staring at it. "This is not good, my dear..." she said very quietly. "He is lurking...watching you...just around the corner...Death, my dear! Death!"

Ron looked down at his watch.

Lavender and Parvati gasped, but the rest of the class paid little attention. After yet another very dramatic performance, Professor Trelawney lay Harry's teacup back on the table, breathing deeply.

"Four minutes," Ron informed Harry quietly. They both laughed.

"You may laugh now, my dear, but you won't be laughing when the jaws of death are upon you!

"-unless you die from laughing at her," Ron whispered to Harry. They both tried (unsuccessfully) to keep a straight face.

"Well, Let me see your friend's leaves, my dear. Perhaps I shall have some happier predictions to make..." Professor Trelawney took Ron's teacup from Harry and peered into it.

"I'm not going to die, am I?" Ron asked Trelawney. Harry snickered.

"Not at all, my dear. Not at all..." said Trelawney. "It appears that an event in the near future shall cause you to be very happy."

"Yeah...I'll be leaving this class," Ron muttered. Harry began snickering again, and hastily turned it into a cough.

"However...this happiness shall be achieved with great difficulty."

"Yeah...I have to endure this class." Ron looked up at Trelawney. "Can you tell me what sort of event this will be?" he asked, certain that she was making all of this up, keeping it vague so there wasn't as much chance of it being wrong.

"I'm afraid not. The future cannot be told exactly. I wish you luck, however...Not that there is such a thing as luck..."

Ron rolled his eyes after Professor Trelawney had walked away. A happiness achieved with great difficulty could be tons of different things...unless...Could it be that he and Hermione would end up together in the near future?

Ron shook himself mentally. "Stop thinking about Hermione," he thought. "That's never going to happen, and even if it did, it would certainly not be predicted by Professor Trelawney. Her predictions that turn out right are coincidences. Mere coincidences."

Ron hid his unease by continuing to joke around with Harry for the rest of Divination.

"Well, That's one of Trelawney's predictions that's actually come true. I am quite happy to be leaving her class," said Ron as he and Harry descended the ladder.

Harry laughed. "What's next?"

Ron got his schedule out and looked down at it. "Transfiguration."

"Maybe I'll get a chance to apologize to Hermione during Transfiguration..." Ron thought.

Ron didn't get a chance to say much of anything during Transfiguration, however. McGonagall took the entire class period explaining the importance of the O.W.L. exams, and McGonagall certainly did not take kindly to people talking while she was talking.

"Hope we have something good next. That talk almost put me to sleep," said Ron, taking his schedule out again. He groaned. "Great," he said sarcastically. "Potions. I can hardly wait."

Snape also gave a long, boring talk on the importance of O.W.L.s. Ron found his mind wandering and coming to rest on thoughts of Hermione. He tried to think of something else but couldn't, and found himself looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Snape won't notice..." Ron thought, and turned slightly to watch Hermione.

"Mr. Weasley...."

Ron jumped.

"Would you like to share with the class how you find Miss Granger more interesting than the lesson?"

Several people snickered, and Hermione looked at Ron with a quizzical expression.

Ron's ears went very red, and, to his horror, so did his whole face. "No, sir."

"Then I suggest that you pay attention. Five points from Gryffindor." Snape replied, sneering. Ron tried to imagine Snape's expression if he were being hit by a flying cauldron. Hermione glanced at him often, and his face grew steadily redder as he tried to think of an explanation to tell Hermione.

Near the end of class, Snape assigned a two-foot long essay.

Everyone was very glad when lunchtime came.

"You head to the Great Hall awhile, Harry. I have to do something...Hermione? Could I talk to you a minute?" Ron said quickly when everyone was filing out of Snape's classroom.

"If you want to look at my notes, the answer is no."

"No, nothing like that. I just..." Ron rolled up the parchment in front of him and stuffed it into his bag. He looked down at the desk. "I just wanted to apologize...again. Will you forgive me?" His ears turned pink.

There was a pause, in which Ron's ears went a bit redder as he and Hermione walked out of the dungeon.

"Who are you and what have you done with Ron?"

"What?"

"Ron never asks to be forgiven, and certainly never apologizes to me."

"Very funny, Hermione," said Ron sarcastically. "I'm serious."

Hermione didn't answer.

"Okay, I'm ashamed of myself for starting that argument. Now are you happy?"

Hermione still didn't answer.

Ron was starting to get desperate. "Okay, I admit that I was a stupid git for starting that argument. Now are you happy?"

"I get it now. You just want help with Snape's essay. Well, nice try, Ron, but you're not getting it."

"No, I don't just want help with Snape's essay. I swear I don't!"

"Why do you want to be forgiven so suddenly, then?" Hermione replied coldly.

"I...well...I..."

"You can fail that essay. You'd deserve it," Hermione snapped.

"Hermione..."

She stormed off. Ron sighed and followed her at a safe distance. This was going to be even harder than he'd thought.