Just a Goodnight Kiss

CHAPTER FOUR

Harry felt himself waking up, but did not open his eyes. He shifted in his seat next to the now extinguished fire and saw a bright yellow light shining into the common room through his eyelids.

He yawned and opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. He saw Hermione sitting in an armchair next to him. She was fully dressed and looked as if she'd been up for a while. When he stirred she looked over at him.

"Morning," she said brightly.

"Mmm..." Harry managed, still very sleepy.

"What're you doing down here anyway?" she asked.

Harry yawned again and tried to shake off the sleepiness. "What? Oh, I couldn't sleep."

"Why not?"

"Had a bad dream," he said quietly.

Hermione looked at him questioningly, but before she could interrogate him further he said, "It was just a nightmare."

Hermione still looked concerned.

"It was about Sirius falling through the veil, all right?" he said, both annoyed and miserable.

"Oh," said Hermione sadly. "I'm sorry," she said very quietly, even though there was no one else in the common room.

"'S okay," he said groggily, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"Would you like to come down to breakfast with me?" Hermione asked tenderly.

"No, I'm gonna stay here for a few minutes. I still feel really tired. I'll be down soon though," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm sure," he replied.

"All right then," she said, giving him an encouraging smile before heading out through the portrait hole.

Harry rubbed his eyes again as he sat in his comfy chair. He wondered vaguely what time it was.

He got up and walked over to one of the windows in the common room and looked outside. It was awfully bright for a December morning, but it looked chilly on the grounds. A light fog was hanging low over the forest.

Harry thought he might as well get changed into his day clothes.

By the time he was dressed, Ron was awake and he too started to dress. Harry waited for him and together they walked down to the Great Hall.

They enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast. Hermione tried to start conversations , but neither Ron nor Harry responded with their usual attitude, being far too drowsy.

Soon all the students who were remaining at Hogwarts over the holidays, which was quite a few, joined them in the Great Hall for breakfast.

After breakfast Harry, Hermione, and Ron decided to visit Hagrid.

They spent a pleasant morning in Hagrid's hut with huge cups of tea and hard treats that none of them touched.

They chatted happily for a long while. They talked about Grawp, who remained in the forest. Dumbledore had found out about him when he entered the Forbidden Forest to rescue Umbridge the year before. He had used magic to create boundaries, invisible walls almost, for Grawp, protecting him and the other creatures that he shared the forest with. Hagrid continued to visit him frequently and tried to teach him to be a 'civil' giant. Ever since the centaurs attacked him, Grawp had been behaving much better, nowadays he very rarely injured Hagrid, but he was still having trouble grasping English.

Harry asked how the thestrals were doing, but immediately regretted it as he was reminded forcefully of all the events that took place at the Ministry of Magic and a dark cloud passed over his eyes. He didn't even hear Hagrid's response to his own stupid question.

Harry was snapped back to reality at the mention of the Winter Ball.

"Suppose I could take a thestral to the ball with me if I can't find a date," said Ron gloomily.

Hermione sat up a little straighter in her chair.

"Yeah, it'd probably dance better than you anyway," said Harry.

A week later Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting around the fire, warming themselves by its radiating heat. It was just after dinner, the sun was setting through the open window and it was cozy and quiet in Gryffindor Tower. Hermione sat reading a book and an abandoned chess board lay out on the table in between Harry and Ron's chairs, half of its pieces laying shattered on the table and littering the floor.

Suddenly the lazy atmosphere was interrupted by a frantic Ginny running in through the portrait hole.

The trio, and most of the other people in the common room, looked up at Ginny as she walked quickly toward their comfortable spot by the fire.

"What's up Gin?" asked Ron, looking a little annoyed at her for ruining his peaceful mood so abruptly.

"If Neville asks, I'm in the library, all right?" She paused for a second when she reached them and glanced back at the portrait hole.

"Er...yeah, all right," said Harry, quite lost.

"Thanks," she said and, without a word of reason for her odd request, disappeared up the girl's staircase.

"Well that was strange," Hermione said after a moment. "Why would she be trying to avoid-"

"Neville!" Ron said hastily, interrupting Hermione as the boy came up behind Hermione's chair. "How's your holiday going? Got a date for the ball yet?"

Neville did a quick search of the common room before replying. "Good, good," he said vaguely. "Any idea where Ginny might be?" he asked, still glancing around.

"I think she said something about going down to the library. I reckon she's getting started on her homework," said Harry nonchalantly.

"Oh, okay. Thanks guys, see you later," the plump boy said gratefully as he walked back out through the portrait hole.

After Neville had exited the common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged curious looks, eyebrows raised.

"I think I'll go up and see what this is all about," said Hermione.

They nodded and she left.

Ron shrugged. "Anyway. Up for another game of chess?" he suggested.

"I don't feel like being beat again, thanks," said Harry.

"Can't say I blame you," said Ron with a smile.

An hour later, Hermione re-joined them, cutting in on their discussion on Gryffindor's chances of winning the Quidditch Cup and various techniques and strategies they could use in their upcoming game against Hufflepuff.

"Well?" said Ron when she sat down and didn't say anything.

"Turns out Ginny was trying to get away from Neville because he had mentioned something to Dean about asking her to the ball, and Dean tipped Ginny off. She doesn't like hiding from him, but she doesn't think she'd have the heart to tell him no," she said.

"Why doesn't she want to go with him?" said Ron, clueless.

Hermione looked at him in disbelief and sighed.

"Because, Ron, she went with him to the Yule Ball and she didn't have very much fun with him. He kept stepping on her feet and she wants to go with someone special this time, someone she'll have fun with," she said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Has anyone besides Neville asked her?" asked Harry.

Hermione looked rather surprised at his question but then answered, "Yes, as a matter of fact. She told me a few boys have asked her, but she didn't know any of them very well."

"How many boys exactly?" Ron asked sharply.

"A fair few," she said. "But that doesn't matter."

Harry spoke before Ron could contradict her.

"Well what did she tell the other blokes?"

"She told them that she wasn't going. But like I said before, they weren't of interest to her, she didn't know them, so it didn't bother her. But Neville's her good friend; she doesn't want to hurt his feelings."

Harry thought for a moment. "Well who does she want to go with?"

"Yeah, who?" said Ron, sitting up.

Hermione glanced at Harry. "That's none of your business."

"Why doesn't she just ask the bloke she wants to go with?" Harry suggested.

"Girls just don't work that way," said Hermione knowingly.

"That's cause girls are from Mars, I'm telling you," Ron muttered.

"Venus," Hermione replied.

Ron looked at her, his eyebrows knitted. "Pardon?"

"Nevermind."