When one door closes... - Part 3

By the time Ron had finished with his shower and returned to Harry's room (with the echo of Aunt Petunia huffing over the waste of water), Hermione had returned from her visit to Diagon Alley.

She burst into the room in a foul temper, angrily swiping the hair from her face. She dropped a heavy load of books onto Harry's rickety old desk and plopped a box full of more pastries than even Ron could eat onto the bed.

"Your relatives weren't hungry, so there's plenty to eat," she said stiffly.

Harry really tried his best not to grin. Really....

"What did they do? Throw them at you?" he asked.

"They're under the impression that I did something to the pastries. Honestly, Harry, I can't believe that you ever tried to poison them, so I don't know what all the fuss is about," she sniffed.

"They hate anything – and anyone – associated with magic. It has nothing to do with you, Hermione. It's just how they are," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Well, that's just as bigoted and narrow-minded as the Malfoys' view of Muggles."

Harry supposed she was right. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, I think Dudley and Malfoy could have actually been mates."

"There's an unpleasant thought," said Ron with a grimace. He'd already opened the box of pastries and held one in each hand. He took a bite of one, causing jam to squirt up on the side of his face. He slowly licked it off. "Mmmm, this is brilliant. I love you, Hermione."

Hermione's cheeks turned pink as she hurriedly looked away and selected her own pastry.

Harry wasn't certain what was happening between his two best friends. He'd thought that maybe they'd come to some sort of an understanding at Dumbledore's funeral, but they hadn't said anything to him. In fact, they were acting pretty much the same as they always did – except for a lot more blushing.

He didn't know how he felt about it. He wanted his friends to be happy, but the idea of sitting on the sidelines and watching them fall in love while his own heart was aching was more than he could bear.

Ginny...

Things were different for Ron and Hermione, though. They were together on this quest for the Horcruxes. They were a team and worked much better with each other than apart. Harry watched his friends out of the corner of his eye as he ate his own pastry. Ron was doing a good job on both of his, but Harry noticed him pausing every once in a while to sneak a glance at Hermione. For her part, Hermione was much more discreet, but she was also copping her fair share of peeks at Ron. Harry thought there must be some powerful feelings between them if Hermione could distract Ron from food.

It was different for Ginny and him, though, wasn't it? He had to protect her…she was better off far away from him. Still, the battle raged within his mind. For those few weeks that they'd shared together, he'd felt as if he could conquer anything. He'd felt so much stronger when she'd been by his side.

No! Stop!

He couldn't do this. He couldn't even allow his traitorous heart to think it. Ginny shouldn't be anywhere near him.