Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Fifteen

The trio of best friends had all settled themselves in the common room at
their usual table. They were glad the classes for the day were over and done
with, and, like everyone else, were now eagerly awaiting tomorrow
afternoon\'s Quidditch game. Gryffindor would be playing against the winner,
so it would be important for their team to watch the game to know what kind
of tactics they would be up against.

They had been sitting at their table working on their respective homework
since they came back to the tower after supper. As per usual, Hermione had
finished hers about an hour earlier than Ron or Harry had, but that was
okay. She stayed down to give them support or help with their work. Ron was
working on his Divination papers from the other day, trying to catch up on
them so he could have a weekend free from trying to memorize potential death
omens.

Hermione had picked up her knitting and was just about finished with her
most recent sweater for the house elves. When she had put the last stitch in
place, she set it aside and took a deep breath, stretching her arms out
above her head and closing her eyes as she did so. Harry didn\'t even look up
for more than a second at his friend, but Ron was thoroughly distracted by
the thin fabric pulled taut across Hermione\'s chest.

She opened her eyes and hastily pulled her arms down when she saw Ron had
been watching her. She smiled at him, trying not to feel too embarrassed.
Ron smiled back quickly and turned to his work again, but Hermione could see
the tips of his ears turning red. She supposed she didn\'t have a real reason
to feel embarrassed; she did like Ron, and should appreciate him being
interested in her as well, right? Right.

It had been just over two hours from the time Hermione had finished her own
homework, and now that she wanishnished with her knitting, she decided to go
off to bed. She was too tired to start another sweater, and she looked up at
the large clock above the fireplace; it read ten thirty. She piled her books
to the side, not even feeling up to lugging them with her up the stairs.
She\'d clean up tomorrow some time since they didn\'t have much to do besides
go watch the match.

She said goodnight to Harry, who hardly looked up from his Transfiguration
homework, and she squeezed her hand over Ron\'s shoulder as she said she\'d
see him tomorrow. Ron sat back in his chair and smiled at her, not turning
away so quickly this time. She smiled back and made her way tds tds the
stairs that led up to the dorm room she shared with the other Seventh Year
girls.

A few minutes after Hermione had left, Ron leaned back in his chair again
and closed his copy of Predicting the Unpredictable. It had been one of the
new books they\'d had to purchase for their Seventh Year studies with
Professor Trelawney. They still used Unfogging the Future, but lately, for
NEWT purposes, they had been told to do work using the new text. Getting
closer to their NEWTs meant more books to read. Unfortunately.

Sighing, Ron shoved his books a little across the table. He had just
finished the work he\'d been behind on, and he was pooped. He decided to
finish the rest tomorrow. Harry looked up at Ron after the red head\'s books
had nudged into his own. \"Alright there, Ron?\" he asked with a slight frown
at the odd look his friend had on his face.

\"Yeah, I\'m fine,\" Ron said, shutting the rest of his books and piling them
like Hermione had done. He was really trying to gather the courage to ask
Harry a few things, in regards to what he was proving incapable of getting
off his brain lately. With a deep breath, Ron leaned forward, closer to
Harry so that no one could over hear them. \"There\'s just something that\'s
been nagging at me for the last few days.\"

This got Ha's a's attention now. He\'d been studiously shoving his face into
his books all night, trying to get caught up on things, and trying not to
think of Draco too much. It became easier when he switched from Divination
to Transfiguration homework, as their Head of House\'s class was a lot more
interesting than Professor Trelawney\'s. Harry watched as Ron leaned across
the table, crossing his arms over it as he did so.

\"Have you ever done it before?\"

Harry blinked. \"Done what?\" he asked, though the question was beginning to
click in his mind as he thought about it. He shifted his eyes to look around
the room. There were only two other students in the common room, and they
were over on the other side. Certainly they wouldn\'t hear them, but the
conversation seemed to warrant a quiet tone none the less.

\"You know,\" Ron said. \"It.\" He cleared his throat a bit and couldn\'t quite
look Harry in the eyes as he proceeded, opting for looking down at Harry\'s
essay. \"Have you ever shagged anyone?\"

\"Er,\" Harry replied eloquently. It seemed just to roll off his tongue and
out his slack jawed mouth. Now this was exactly the line of questioning
Harry had been hoping to avoid. He couldn\'t tell Ron about Draco, but he
supposed from the way he was starting to blush, and how he\'d suddenly
decided to take part in the elusive sport of watching ink dry, he\'d already
given his answer.

\"I knew it!\" Ron crowed loudly, abruptly losing his tact at not letting the
entire tower know what he knew. He almost giggled with his regained
confidence as he asked, \"Who was she? Come on, you can tell me.\"

\"Sorry, Ron; I don\'t kiss and tell,\" Harry replied, recovering as quickly as
he could, while still blushing slightly. He wasn\'t going to correct his
friend on pronouns, and he supposed he could play the gender game for a
while. I mean, Harry thought, they\'re going to find out sooner or later,
aren\'t they? He had to tell them soon.

He didn\'t think his friends would have cared either way, regardless of
gender. Harry could screw either gender of barn yard animals for all it
really mattered, because it still wouldn\'t have been an issue of who. As it
were, that *was* the issue. He seriously doubted if Hermione or Ron would
have approved of him shagging Malfoy. They might simply think he was being
manipulated or under some spell, or even just ask what the hell he\'d been
smoking.

\"Well, when you kiss again, will you tell me?\" Ron asked, winking at his
friend. Harry was about to reply with another resounding \'No\' to that before
he was horribly distracted. Ron watched as the dark haired boy\'s eyes
widened slightly, mouth caught in an \'o\' shape before he smiled nervously.

Hermione stood at the bottom of the stairs, paused, as she listened to the
boys\' conversation. You know how you\'re tired, but then you go to bed, and
have the lights off, your eyes stop being so heavy and they relax as your
body does, then you don\'t feel as tired anymore? That\'s what happened, and
Hermione had decided to come back downstairs to grab a book to read herself
to sleep.

Ron frowned, because he noted that Harry\'s gaze was directed over his
shoulder. Realization dawned on him, and he turned slowly. \"Er,\" he said,
about as classy as Harry had made it sound. \"Hi, Hermione.\" The girl in
question shuffled for a moment as she stepped off the last stair and onto
the floor of the common room. She vaguely nodded at them, brain clearly
working over time on something else, as she moved to the table to pick up
one of her Arithmancy books.

She said good night to them both quietly, barely audible, and she hurried
back to the stairs. They stared after her until she disappeared up the
stairs, and they only heard the faint bump of the door as Hermione closed it
behind herself. Silence descended in the room, and they realized that the
other occupants of the room had also went up to bed.

\"Well, bollocks,\" Ron muttered, breaking the silence, and the two boys
looked at each other. Harry gave a small shrug, hoping the conversation
wouldn\'t reignite, and was thankful when they seemed to mutually just go up
to bed.

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