The Power of Love

Part One: Make One Man Weep, Make Another Man Sing

As Harry shut the door to the compartment, leaving Ron and Hermione alone, the two looked at each other, and then all of a sudden, collapsed into mad, passionate embraces. After about a minute they started to break apart between kisses to conduct some semblance of conversation.

"How much time," Hermione said breathlessly, "do you think we have?"

"I dunno," Ron replied. "About two minutes, give or take." They continued their adventures until they heard someone outside in the corridor. They broke apart and returned to separate seats just as Draco Malfoy opened the door, flanked by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Hey, Weasel King," he sneered. "And the goody-two-shoes Mudblood! Where's Potty? Run away to cry over his dead godfather?" Ron jumped up.

"Fuck you, Malfoy!" he yelled as he pulled out his wand, about to jinx the Slytherin in front of them. Hermione stopped him.

"Ron, don't!" she pleaded. Malfoy grinned sadistically.

"That's right, listen to the Mudblood, Weasel King, you stupid, fucking--" He stopped when he heard a thump in the corridor behind him. Malfoy whirled around to see Crabbe and Goyle sprawled on the floor and Harry standing with his wand leveled at his chest. Malfoy gasped in spite of himself.

"Good to see you, Malfoy," Harry greeted him, each word dripping in malice and disdain. "Looking forward to another first-rate year?"

"Define a 'first-rate year,'" Malfoy told him.

"Me kicking your ass in Quidditch, us kicking your ass in the House Cup, us kicking yours and your cronies' asses in the minor scuffles that we seem to have in the corridors." Harry looked as if he were trying to think of more. "Oh, yeah, and it just wouldn't be a good year if we didn't turn you a ferret." Ron and Hermione laughed; Malfoy looked livid. He started forward but stopped as Harry gestured with his wand in a very threatening manner. "Get the fuck out of here, ferret-boy." The three Gryffindors laughed again as Malfoy skulked out and levitated his cronies with him. Harry returned to his seat. "That went better than expected," he said.

"Yeah, no kidding," returned Hermione. "Good thing you stunned Crabbe and Goyle, else Ron might be very sore right now." Ron laughed and smiled, but Harry noticed that he neither made a sarcastic-but-friendly remark, nor any other of his normal responses. Harry eyed him closely.

"What?" Ron asked him.

"You're hiding something," Harry accused.

"What? No I'm not!" But he didn't quite meet Harry's eyes. Hermione changed the subject hastily.

"I think the train is slowing down," she said, and indeed it was. Harry gave one last look at Ron, and then shrugged it off. He grabbed his stuff and headed out into the corridor to wait for the other two. Hermione was out first and for some reason, she looked a little flushed. Something is going on, Harry thought. But then he noticed that he was causing a hold up in the corridor and went out to the carriages.

As the carriages trundled up the lane towards Hogwarts Caste, Harry mulled over his recent life in his mind. Sirius is gone, he thought. Aw, hell, Lupin's right; I need to move on. I need to be a normal teenager. No sooner had he thought this when a voice awakened in the back of his mind. Bull, it said. How the hell are you going to lead a normal life? Get yourself a girlfriend, for Christ's sake! Another voice argued. If you did that--

"Harry?" It was Hermione speaking. Harry snapped out of his reverie. "The carriages have stopped; we're here."

**********

It was eleven thirty. Everyone in the Gryffindor Tower had gone to bed. Everyone, that is, other than Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The two love birds were busy with each other.

"God, Hermione," Ron asked. "Why didn't we ever do this before?"

"I don't know," she replied. "But I think we should have."

"Yeah, we could have been doing this for years," Ron said. "We need to make up for lost time." With that said, they lapsed into more primal instincts. If they were more careful in hiding their exploits, they would have found a more private spot. They would have heard the footsteps on the stairs.

But they didn't and, as a result, Harry James Potter walked in, discovering his two best friends making out.

He stopped in the doorway. Ron and Hermione pulled apart and looked over. Harry seemed to have gone into shock. Ron was entirely dumbfounded. Hermione got up and tried to say something, but before she could, Harry did.

"No, no, don't try to explain. Don't do anything. Don't talk to me, don't interact with me, don't tell me what's going on in your lives." He stopped and added: "Actually, it seems that you've already got that covered." Then he left the Gryffindor Tower.

"Harry--" Hermione began, but Harry slammed the portrait hole shut behind him.

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