Harry still had most of the school supplies Dumbledore had given him for Gemini, and knew they would be enough to get him through the school year. That only left his robes since he already had a new wardrobe. The day before Snape was going to take him back to Hogwarts, he surpriesed Harry at breakfast with, "I will buy your school robes."

Harry looked up and raised his brows. "You- will?"

"I will buy them on the condition that you try to stay out of trouble for at least the first month at school. I do not wish to see you in the Hospital Wing, or detention. As far as I'm concerned, both of those are out of bounds for you."

"I'll pay you back," Harry said.

"You have money left?"

"No," he grumbled. It wasn't that he had plans to get into trouble in the first month of school (or at all this year), but it was known to happen and he didn't like that Snape had forbidden it. "I'll work it off."

"You have a job?"

Harry stared at him, and then, not sure why he felt like being flippant, said, "I'll brew potions for you or something." Harry didn't think Snape would take kindly to him inviting himself to work for him, but the man's dark eyes seemed to be considering it. He could see the cogs in his mind working.

"If you were working for me, you would not have time to get into trouble."

"How much work do you want me to do?" Harry asked, wondering what he was getting himself into. Each set of robes was 2 Galleons, and with two sets of robes plus his Quidditch uniform which would cost three, that would be seven Galleons he'd owe him.

"You tell me Potter. This was your idea."  Snape looked interested in the answer.

Harry frowned. Ron had worked all summer to earn twenty Galleons.  "I don't know what normal wages are," Harry admitted, and Snape seemed to approve of his admission for some reason.

"Typically two Sickles an hour."

Doing the math in his head, Harry figured out that at seventeen Sickles in a Galleon, he'd need to work off 119 Sickles, and that would be almost 60 hours. "60 hours at 2 sickles an hour," Harry said.

"You will come to my office for one hour after dinner on Monday and Friday evenings, and ­for two hours on Saturday and Sunday directly after breakfast. That will be six hours a week and you will be done in two and a half months."

Harry nodded. That wasn't too bad. He just hoped it wouldn't be like detention where he'd be scrubbing out jars that had held pickled brains and other disgusting things.

"I will go to Diagonalley with your measurements to purchase your robes. While I am gone you will need to look over this list and memorize it." Snape handed him a piece of parchment with a schedule on it.

"What is it?"

"I promised the Headmaster that I would be training you in the two remaining weeks until school. That is the schedule I gave to him. If he should ever happen to question you on it, you will know what to say because you have memorized it." It almost seemed like a threat and Harry was certain that if he slipped up and got the schedule wrong or any of the other things Snape had noted at the bottom and around the edges that he'd be in detention for a long time.

As Harry stared at the list, Snape used a spell to get his measurements and then told Harry to stay in the house until he got back. He apparated away with a pop and Harry squinted to read some of the tiny writing Snape had crammed into a tight space under the heading: DEFENSE. He was glad he hadn't had to keep this schedule and had gotten some time to relax. If he'd had to train with Snape for an additional two weeks with this schedule, he wouldn't have had a moment of free time, as the man had accounted for every waking moment. He went upstairs and pulled out a piece of parchment, and began copying the schedule over and over again, hoping to memorize it this way.

* * *

Snape apparated them to Kings Cross early the next morning and left Harry there on Platform Nine and Three Quarters to board the train. Ron and Hermione didn't seem to be there yet, as the first families were just starting to arrive, so Harry levitated his two trunks onto the train to an empty compartment by himself. He pulled out his fake schedule and went over it again while he waited. It was twenty minutes before the compartment door opened again, and Hermione came in with a smile and sat down next to him.

"Hi Harry," she said.

"You seem happy," Harry noted. "Did you enjoy the last two weeks of the holiday?"

"Yes. Did you get to go with Professor Snape?"

"Yeah. He let me spend the day at the Burrow and then took me back to the Isle of Coll."

"You went back to Gemini?"

"His house is a mile away."

"That's interesting. I thought it was such a bright and cheery place."

Harry laughed. "You mean to say that Professor Snape is not a bright and cheery man?"

She put her hand up to her lips and giggled. Harry told her about his agreement with Snape to work for the robes, about borrowing some of his books, and that he had enough school supplies to get through the summer.

"I actually bought you these," Hermione said. She dug around in her bookbag and pulled out several black Muggle lined notebooks. "I added the Gryffindor Crest to them," she told him. "I wanted to make up for the pink notebooks."

"Thanks."  He took them.  "You didn't have to."

Harry saw Draco pass by in the corridor, but Draco made no effort to get Harry's attention. It was another few minutes before the compartment door opened again and Ron and Ginny came in. Ron still looked glum.

"Hi Harry, Hermione," Ron said, sitting opposite of Hermione. Ron was staring at the floor, but Ginny was staring at them and Harry frowned, wondering what that was about. Hermione got up and went to sit with Ron, which seemed to cheer him up a little. Ginny sat down next to Harry and nudged him with her elbow.

"What?" he whispered to her, but all he got was a frown in return.

As they rode to Hogwarts, Neville, Luna, Dean, Seamus, and a few others dropped by to ask what Gemini had been like and Harry and Hermione took turns telling them, though Harry tended to leave out the worse parts of his summer.

Harry told Ron about his agreement to work for Snape, and Ron looked like he felt pained on Harry's behalf, but Harry reminded himself that Ron looked downright awful to begin with. At one point Ron got up to find the lunch trolley and Hermione left to use the loo, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

"Ron doesn't look good," Harry commented as soon as his friend had left.

"No, he doesn't," Ginny agreed. "He's kept himself locked in his room or else he disappears for the whole day to some part of the property."

"He'll win her back," Harry said. He was rooting for him in any case.

"You think so do you?"

"Don't you?"

"I'm not so sure anymore."

The compartment door opened before Harry could ask her why she thought that, and Hermione came back in.  A moment later Ron came in with an armful of food. "Here Hermione, I bought you lunch," he said. "I got the trolly lady to mix chocolate and strawberry ice cream the way you like." He said it with a hopeful air but his face said he was still unhappy.

"Oh, thank you," she said, taking the bowl of ice cream he was handing her. Harry and Ginny shared a look, seeing that her smile was still strained.

"Where's my lunch?" Ginny asked Ron.

"I didn't buy you any," he said. Harry laughed at the glowering look Ginny wore and as soon as he did Hermione did too.

That night at the feast, Ron and Hermione sat together, but Ron gave up trying to engage her in conversation by desert when she wouldn't give more than one or two word responses to him. He looked to Harry and Ginny across the table for help, but they didn't know what to do.

"It's useless," Ron said glumly in their dorm room that night. "I can't win who I'm competing against."

"You don't have to compete against anyone," Harry told him. "Just be yourself. She's not going to be with someone who's being fake. I mean," he paused, not sure he was making things any better. "Ron, you're my best friend and I'm rooting for you to win her back. So is Ginny. Maybe just give her some space, yeah?"

"I guess," he said.

"Just be you. You got her to like you once by being you."

"And look how that turned out." Ron flopped on his bed face first and didn't say anything for several minutes, so Harry climbed into bed, though he lay awake for a long time feeling bad for Ron, and wondering who Hermione thought was better than his best friend. Harry didn't think anyone could be.

Ginny seemed perpetually irritated and angry at Harry over the next few days, though he couldn't figure out why. He tried to spend as much time as he could alone with Ron without Hermione that week to cheer him up, though he had made a comitment to work for Snape for six hours a week and so had to leave his friend alone some of the time.

Monday Snape had Harry sweep all four dungeon classrooms and his office, and had him count all of the cauldrons and sort them by quality in the store room. Harry hoped it wouldn't be like this every time he went to work for the man, and was pleased when he went back Friday and found that the Professor wanted him to take stock of all of the school's potions. It wasn't hard work, just time consuming, and Harry took a clipboard and parchment into the store room and had only barely finished when his hour was up.

"Come back tomorrow morning to take stock of all of the ingredients. It will likely take you two days."

"Yes sir," Harry said as he picked up his bag to head back to the common room. "Thanks," he said as he left. The man didn't have to buy him his robes after all, or let him work to pay him back. Harry still wasn't used to feeling grateful for Snape's help, and wondered if he ever would. He had a feeling that at the first sign of trouble, the man would be back to his old self, telling Harry off for every little thing and trying to get him expelled.

Harry was still contemplating the un-Snape when he made the common room. Ron was sitting in a corner by himself at a table, his head down on a large brown book. Ginny walked up to Harry and Harry asked, "What's up with him?"

"He tried to give Hermione a book he bought for her over the summer, and she told him she couldn't take it because she couldn't date him anymore."

"That's harsh. I'll talk to him."

"You'd better not," she warned with a hard look, and Harry raised his brows.

"Ok, I know what's going on with him, what's up with you? You've been mad at me all week and I don't even know why."

"Figure it out Harry." She stalked away from him with a huff and he felt confused. What was going on here? This was not the Hogwarts he had left last summer. Snape was being almost nice, Hermione had broken up with Ron, and Ginny, who was usually keen on him was angry for no reason at all. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it was possible that he was stuck inside one of his nightmares or other strange dreams, and turned and walked back out the portrait hole. He walked back in and Ron was still at the table with his head down.

"Do you know where Hermione is?" Harry asked Parvati, who was sitting at a table studying right by the entrance.

"The library. After the scene she made with Ron, I don't think she wants to be here."

"Thanks," Harry muttered, and went back out the portrait hole. She had hurt his friend, and he had a feeling that Ginny was somehow involved in this whole thing. He wanted to know once and for all who it was that Hermione was interested in. Surely someone at another school that she wouldn't see again wouldn't be worth all of this trouble that had been caused.

Hermione was sitting right at the front of the library. She had a book open, but Harry could tell she wasn't reading it, just staring at it. He sat down next to her.

"Ok, I want to know," he said. She looked up at him, surprised.

"What?"

"Ron's gone catatonic in the common room. Ginny told me what happened before she practically tore my head off for no reason at all. I wan't to know. Who's so much better than Ron that you had to break up with him? Things were fine between the two of you before we went to Gemini."

"You are."

Harry blinked. "I am what?"

"You're the one who's better."

Harry stared at her for what felt like three or four minutes, mind blank. She said his name a couple of times and at the sound of it his mind started spinning faster than the time it took to apparate. I'm better? How am I better? Ron's tall and has a lot of muscles. He has a good family and he has a real job. Ron's a Prefect this year and I'm just me. Voldemort's got a price on my head and I officially live in a cupboard under the stairs. What's so good about me?

"Harry?"

"Me?" He met her eyes and she nodded, seeming uncertain.

"Why would you like me?"

"You can't think of any reason?"

He shook his head. She had been his friend since first year, so he knew she didn't just like him because of his hero status like a lot of other people did.

"This summer was the first time we'd really been alone, away from everyone else. I was angry for you this summer, for what people did, and I realized I wasn't being a good friend by separating myself from the issues. And then, the more time I spent with you... the more I worried about you... the more I really saw you. I'd never seen you like that before.

"Like what?"

"Like you. Just you."

Harry felt something squirm in the pit of his stomach. Someone... sees me for me?  He'd always felt like his friends were there for him, like they understood some of the things about his life, but aside from Remus, he'd never felt like anyone else really saw him, not even Sirius. And now Hermione was telling him that she saw him, and still liked him.

"Ron will never forgive me," Harry said as a statement of fact.

"I feel bad about hurting him," Hermione said. "I've felt bad all summer about looking at you the way I do, thinking about you like that. I don't know what else to do though."

"Don't you like him at all anymore?"

"I care about him. I'm just not sure I feel about him like I do you."

"This is a real mess."

"I know."

"It's my job to make a mess of things," Harry commented, not really to her, just out loud. She didn't respond and Harry reached up and scratched his head. He really felt like he'd been thrown for a loop. He'd never even thought of Hermione in a romantic way before because he knew Ron had his eye on her since their third year. He glanced at her, and unbidden, thought, she is pretty. Stop that, he scolded himself, you're not helping. Ron will be crushed if I start dating her. But with that thought, he realized that he would like to be with someone who really saw him, and understood what he was going through.

Harry stood up, bookbag still over his shoulder, and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to think," he said, stomach already tying itself in knots with confusion. "And you need to tell Ron."

"Tell him what?"

Harry turned to look at her. "That you fell for his best friend and that I had no idea about it."

"What good will that do? You don't want to be involved with me anyway. I don't want to hurt him more." She bit her lip.

Harry paused. "I never said that. You need to tell him. He'll find out one way or another and it will hurt him more figuring it out on his own." Harry walked away then and didn't look back at her. He wished he had someone to talk to. How had he not seen this coming? Ginny must have known, that was why she was mad at him. He closed his eyes as he leaned up against a wall outside the library in a corridor. When he'd first gone to Snape's house, he'd asked if Ron was mad at him. Did that mean Snape knew too? Well it wouldn't do any good talking to Snape would it?

Instead of returning to the common room, Harry went to the Owlery and sat in the darkness with nothing but his wand for light, and penned a letter to Axle. Maybe he would know what to do. Harry wanted to know if it had been obvious to Axle that Hermione had started to like him over the summer, and what he should do about it. Harry explained about Ron and how everyone else apparently knew, but that it had somehow escaped him. He didn't go back to the dorm until past curfew, forgetting his promise to Professor Snape not to get in trouble. He didn't want to face Ron until he could really wrap his head around this mess, and even then, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Ron was asleep when he got back, and Harry was glad to have the excuse of going to work for Snape the next morning so that he could leave early.

As Harry took stock of potions ingredients after breakfast, he was distracted, and Snape pointed out to him that he'd made several mistakes at the end of the first hour. Harry tried to concentrate harder during the second hour, but was sure his list of ingredients was still flawed.

Axle's reply didn't come back to Harry until Sunday evening as he was sitting at his desk studying for Transfiguration. He opened it eagerly, excited to hear from his friend, but also eager to get some help with this issue. He had been trying to think of anything except for Hermione, because when he thought about what she'd said, he thought that he really did like her, but his mind always circled back around to how it would hurt Ron.

Harry,

It's good to hear from you. Basia was able to transfer to Boden, but only for the first half of the school year. You know we are dating, but I do not know much about a situation like you describe. I did not tell her about your letter, but I did ask my father. I hope you do not mind, but he has always given me good advice. He says: Who do you value more? Your friend or Hermione? You will date her and lose your best friend, or keep your best friend, and lose her. I told him I didn't think his advice would help, but it was all he had to say. I am sorry. I hope this helps.  I did not realize that she liked you.  I hope you are having a good start of term. Write me again to tell me what you do. I would like to know.

-Axle

Harry folded the letter up and put it in his pants pocket. He didn't think August's advice helped one bit, and he didn't feel any the wiser for having written to ask for help. Normally he would have gone to talk to Ginny if he couldn't talk to Ron or Hermione, but he wasn't sure she'd give him unbiased advice since she was obviously angry at him and upset on her brother's behalf. He didn't necessarily want to be talking to other people about it that didn't already know either. Who did that leave? Snape, was the answer that came to him, but Harry brushed the notion aside again. He didn't think Snape would be willing to help him. Besides, it would just be uncomfortable talking to him about it.

But as Monday rolled around, Harry felt uncomfortable anyway. Ron was waiting in each class to see where Hermione sat first so that he could sit at a different table. Harry wasn't sure where to sit, next to Ron or Hermione. If he sat next to Ron, he'd be lending good moral support to him, but if he didn't sit next to Hermione, he thought he would hurt her feelings, and he didn't want to do that after what she'd revealed to him. He was worried he'd give her the impression that he was somehow rejecting her.

At lunch Ron made it a point to sit all the way on the opposite end of the table as Hermione, and Harry chose to sit right in the center, across from Ginny despite that she glared at him the whole time.

"What?" Harry asked her, feeling testy.

"You know what," Ginny whispered to him from across the table.

"It's not like I knew about this," Harry said. "I knew she'd fallen for someone, I didn't know it was me!" He thought she wouldn't believe him, but her expression softened somewhat.

"You're dense sometimes Harry," she told him, and he lifted his hands like he didn't know how to respond.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

"Neither do I. I wrote to mum."

"You told her?" Harry hissed. His stomach started to bubble with worry. The Weasleys had always treated him like a son, and now Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be mad at him like Ginny had been for over a week now.

"I told her Hermione broke up with Ron and that I thought she liked you, and that Ron's been moping, that's all."

"What did she say?" Harry asked.

"You want to know don't you?"

"Well I don't know what I'm doing here. I can't date her or I'll hurt Ron, and I can't not date her, because I'll hurt her. I know you think I made this big mess but I had nothing to do with it."

"All that time with her all summer, and you didn't do anything?"

"We had classes together and studied together like we do here, that's it, I swear. I was more focused on not getting killed by all the people there that hated me, including Snape."

"Well he doesn't seem to hate you now," she observed. She knew that Harry was working for him.

"That's a whole other topic and I don't know what to think about that either."

They finished their lunch in silence and Harry was quiet for the rest of the day, skipping dinner altogether and instead opting to wait outside of Snape's office for his hour of work.

Snape showed up ten minutes before dinner ended and let him in.

"Take inventory again. There are too many mistakes. When you are working for me, I am counting on you to be reliable and give me reliable data. I will not accept laziness."

"Yes sir," Harry said glumly, holding out his hand for the clipboard and parchment. Harry stood up and turned to leave the office and go down the hall to the store room between the two largest Potions classrooms.

"Potter."

Harry turned.

"If you've already checked out before you go to the store room, you are of no use to me."

"Sir?"

"Would you care to enlighten me on what has so captured your attention these last few days?"

Harry frowned. No, he would not like to enlighten you, he thought bitterly, but then stopped. Axle didn't know what to do, he didn't know, and Ginny didn't know. Maybe Snape would, even if he didn't want to ask him.

"Out with it Potter," he said, and Harry sighed.

"How did you know?"

"Be specific if you expect an answer."  He crossed his arms and waited for Harry to reply.

"How did you know that Hermione liked me? You asked if Ron was mad at me when I said Hermione liked someone else."

"You have been friends for five years Potter, and you spent the summer together. She was with you more often than not at Gemini. I just assumed."

"Oh." He was quiet for a moment. "Well what do I do about it?"

"You do not know what to do when a young lady likes you?"

"Not that," Harry snapped angrily. He had dated Cho before. "What do I do in this situation? Ron would be hurt if I dated Hermione and she would be hurt if I didn't." He didn't have the heart to say that the rest of the Weasleys would want to have nothing to do with him, and that he'd be alone again in this world.

"Do you respect Miss Granger's intelligence?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with-"

"And you respect her as a person?"

"Yes but-"

"Then do not act as though it is only your decision. She has made the decision, and has the right to do so regarding who she is romantically interested in. The fact that you feel conflicted about it tells me that you have feelings for her as well."

"I would betray my best friend if I took his girlfriend."

"She is not a posession Potter."

"So you're saying I should do it?"

"I said no such thing."

Gee, thanks for the help, Harry thought to himself sarcastically.

"Well what would you do then?" he asked, feeling miffed because all Snape had done was add another layer of issues to the problem.

"Fortunately," Snape said, "I am not faced with the situation. I can only say that I would deal with your friends the way you would want to be dealt with." He motioned for Harry to take the clipboard and get to work and Harry left the office.

How would he want to be dealt with if his best friend wanted to date his girlfriend? He didn't know because he couldn't imagine the situation being reversed. He supposed that if Hermione had made up her mind, she wasn't going to go back to Ron whether or not he dated her, so in that respect, he should go through with it. On the other hand however, just because she had decided to break up with Ron, didn't mean that he had to be a jerk about it to his best friend. If he had been dating Hermione to start with and Ron had decided to date her, he would want Ron to tell him face to face. He bet Ron would too. He was a Gryffindor. Then again, so was Harry. At the end of his hour he had taken stock of the potions supplies yet again and handed the list to Snape. Then he went straight back to the common room to find Ron, whom he'd been avoiding since Friday night.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked Ginny when he got into the common room.

"Upstairs."

Harry didn't answer the questioning look in her eyes and jogged up to the dorm. Ron was at their desk doing some homework, hand supporting his head. Harry was glad that the rest of the dorm was empty, because he didn't feel like making a fool of himself in front of everybody else, and he was sure he would.

"Ron, I need to talk to you," Harry said. His voice seemed steady enough, but he felt anything but. What am I doing? Am I crazy? This is stupid!

Ron set his quill down and looked up.

"I know who Hermione likes."

"You."

Harry pulled back a little. "You, know? Hermione told you?"

"I knew since you told me at the house."

"I don't- why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you didn't know and I was hoping you wouldn't figure it out."

"How did you-"

"Come on Harry. It was only a matter of time until she realized who she was dating and who she could be dating." Ron seemed resigned but also bitter.

"I don't know what to say to that aside from that I never thought she'd want to date me. You have everything."

"Everything?"

"A family, a job-" good looks, muscles, people that care about you, Prefect status... he didn't say it all, because he couldn't bring himself to do it. To admit just how much he envied his friend for all that he had.

"Well, now you have everything."

"What do you mean?"

"You've got Hermione. There's no use in me trying to fight for her."

Harry bit his lip. One part of him was still rooting for his friend to win her back, and the other part of him was rooting for himself. He'd been too busy these last few years to think about dating or about other things normal teenagers got to do, but now that there was the prospect of getting to be normal, even just a little, he wanted to jump on it.

"I haven't got her. She only just told me Friday that she liked me."

"I figured. You avoided me all weekend."

"I wasn't sure what to do. I don't want to hurt you."

Ron suddenly looked very serious and looked straight into Harry's eyes. "It's not your job to mind me Harry. You just don't hurt Hermione or ther'll be trouble, hear me?"

Harry sat on his bed. Even though Ron was hurting, all he cared about was Hermione getting hurt.

"I haven't talked to her about dating her or anything. If I don't date her she'll get hurt."

"Do you even like her?"

"I didn't think about her before, because she was dating you. I swear Ron, I never even looked at her sideways or gave it a second thought."

"I know. But you're looking at her like that now."

"I won't date her if you don't want me to."

"I don't want you to. It's not up to me though. If you don't date her, she'll find someone else."

Wasn't that what Snape had said? It wasn't up to Harry who she had feelings for? She wasn't a posession? Ron seemed to understand that, and Harry felt more lost than he had before. Ron was lightyears ahead of him when it came to knowing how to date, and when it came to knowing who Hermione was and the things she liked. He felt inferior then, more so than he had before.

"I'm sorry Ron." It was all he could think to say.

"If you hurt her, you will be." He closed his book, stood up, and left the room. There it was. Ron had tried to be indifferent, but couldn't be. He was hurt whether or not Harry dated her, and Hermione would be hurt if he didn't date her, and would find someone else. He didn't feel right about dating her in light of who was involved, but he really wanted to, and he felt like being selfish just this once instead of always doing what was right for other people, which in this case, he didn't even know what the 'right thing' was.

* * *

Harry was faced the next day with where to sit, as he had been the day before. Ron was sitting apart from Hermione and trying not to watch Harry as he made his decision. Harry went and sat next to Ron at breakfast, causing Hermione's face to fall where she sat down the table.

"I hate you. Go sit with her," Ron said as Harry sat across from him. His voice lacked any real conviction though.

"You don't hate me," Harry said. "I'm just trying to do what's right."

"You're thinking about me and I told you not to. Look at her. You hurt her feelings."

"I was friends with you first."

"And you're friends with her now. Stop being a jerk and go sit with her."

Harry sighed. "You're intent on making this harder than it has to be."

"Sit with me in the common room or something, but go sit with her now." He sounded defeated.

"She has a choice, but what about me?  Where's my choice?"

"Look Harry," Ron looked up into his eyes and Harry was unsettled to see that his eyes were shining with wetness that hadn't fallen yet. "I just need some time, ok? I'll rejoin the group when I'm ready." It was the same thing Harry had told Ron about Hermione, to give her some space. Now Ron was throwing the same advice back to him, and Harry felt bad that his friend sounded like he was pleading to be left alone.

"Ok Ron," he said. "But I don't like this."

"No one does."

Harry got up and went down the table and sat across from Hermione.

"How is he?" she asked.

"He said he hates me and he wants me to give him some space. He told me to sit with you."

"But you didn't want to, did you?"

"I didn't say that," Harry said, and he flashed her a smile. She blushed.

"This is a real mess isn't it?"

"Maybe for now," Harry said. "But Ginny hasn't been mad at me since I talked to her the other day, and we can figure the rest out."

"We?"

Harry blushed this time and looked down quickly into his bacon and eggs.

He sat with Hermione through classes that day and at the rest of the meals and when he was done with his homework that night, he wrote another letter to Axle.

Axle,

I don't know how things will work out. I tried to make peace with Ron. He's going to be hurt either way. I think I really like Hermione. I'm going to try to make it work. It's a big mess, but it's nice to have someone to sort through the mess with.

-Harry

He mailed the letter and went to bed. 'We?' Hermione's question from earlier floated back to the forefront of his mind. He hadn't known what to say to her, so he'd said nothing at all. He wondered if he was doing the right thing, and how he'd make it work, or if it was meant to work at all.