UnExpected

Chapter 12

"Hermione. Looks like you made it through the night," Ron greeted as he and Harry met her in the common room.

"How is she?" asked Harry.

His best friends shared a look at his sympathetic tone but decided to ignore it. It could be remnants of how the students had treated him last night. Yeah, sure, that was it, some leftover emotions that colored his tones.

"I wouldn't know," Hermione answered. "When I reached the dormitory, she was hidden away behind her bed-drapes, and when I woke up this morning she was already gone."

"Probably off to meet with her Slytherin friends," Ron sneered.

Harry tuned them out and went off to his little Buffy world. He should've said something last night. The way they had torn into her – it was unbearable to watch. It didn't help that he was already in a fit of rage when she made her presence, and when he saw her, it only doubled. He had heard Ron's threatening tone when he talked to her, and as angry as he was with her, he didn't like it one bit. A sear of protectiveness took over him, and he was very close to doing something very regrettable to his friend.

Even when she was being a very not so nice person, she had intrigued him from the first moment he had met her. There was just something about her, but of course that didn't mean he was blind to all her faults either. She was mean, rude, and a snob. Treating everyone like they were nothing more than pieces of lint that got in her way. He had been at the end of her verbal attacks, just like Ron and Hermione – and pretty much everyone else she talked to. He knew how mean she could be, how spiteful, but that never stopped him from wondering about her. Even when he couldn't stand the sight of her. She intrigued him, yes, but he still held a fair amount of dislike for her in those days, just like he did with Malfoy, maybe even more so. But then, in his second year everything changed. Their whole relationship changed – a relationship that no one knew about.

"Harry? Are you all right?" Hermione asked. He had been quiet the entire way and held an odd expression on his face.

"I'm fine," he mumbled absently.

He must've been out of it for quite some time because the next thing Harry knew he was in the Great Hall where the stares and hushed words continued in his direction. Ignoring them, he quickly ran his eyes over the Gryffindor table looking for Buffy, but she wasn't there. Switching views and moving to the Slytherin table, with butterflies in his stomach, he didn't see her there either or anywhere else for that matter. He gave a slight frown at that. Where was she?

Hoping to distract himself, Harry looked over to the staff table, watching as Professor Grubbly-Plank chatted with Professor Sinistra. But that didn't help to improve his mood any, Hagrid was still missing.

"Dumbledore didn't even mention how long that Grubbly-Plank woman would be staying," Harry commented, heading toward their house table.

"Maybe..." Hermione began.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Maybe he didn't want to draw attention to it."

"Not draw attention to it? It's kinda hard not to notice."

Before Harry could put his thoughts in, Angelina Johnson had come over to their spot to tell Harry that she had been made Quidditch captain. She quickly brushed off his congratulations and informed him that she wanted all the Gryffindor team members there when she held tryouts Friday at five o'clock for the open position of Keeper since Oliver had left. Harry made his promise to be there, and she smiled at him in gratitude before departing as quickly as she had come.

There was a sudden whoosh and a clatter as a rush of owls came into the castle. Harry watched as the rain-soaked birds delivered their letters and things, semi-disappointed that Hedwig was nowhere to be found. But it had only been twenty-four hours since he last saw Sirius, how much could he really write? With a large amount of distaste, Harry watched as Hermione unfurled her copy of the Daily Prophet . He voiced his displeasure to the brunette, and, as always, received a reasonable explanation to her choice, 'it's best to know what the enemy is saying', before she quietly scanned the pages.