Moments in Love

Furry Problems and Super-Creeps

The glare of the sunlight reflecting off the sheet of white snow which had fallen in the night was almost blinding as it poured through the window into the hospital wing late Sunday morning. Harry clumsily struggled to spoon some porridge into his mouth with his left hand from the breakfast tray that Madam Pomfrey had brought for him and Hermione.

"Here, let me..." said Hermione, unable to help giggling.

"Er... alright then. Thanks Hermione!" Harry's face blazed with embarrassment; he was just glad that neither Draco Malfoy nor Ron could see Hermione feeding him porridge. "I think I can manage the bacon and toast myself though..." he said with a half-smile once he'd finished the oatmeal.

Madam Pomfrey came bustling in when Harry and Hermione had finished eating their late breakfast.

"Alright then... everything looks all in order," she said after looking over Harry's reboned, but extremely stiff right arm. "You should have full usage back by tomorrow, but you are welcome to leave now."

"Thanks Madam Pomfrey... and, er... thank you for letting Hermione stay with me again."

Harry and Hermione departed from the hospital wing and went to find Ron. When they got to the Gryffindor Common Room it was empty though. Hermione followed Harry up to his dorm, but nobody was there either.

"I suppose everybody is outside in the snow..." said Hermione as she looked through the window at the white world outside while Harry changed behind his curtain.

"Oh good... it's here," Harry called out brightly. "Hedwig must have got back this morning and dropped it on my bed!"

"What's that?" asked Hermione when Harry emerged from behind his curtain with a package in his hands.

"The potions supplies I ordered from the Diagon Alley Apothecary after we got the book from Lockhart..."

"Oh," said Hermione awkwardly, her face turning crimson as she recalled how she'd suggested that it might be necessary to steal some of the ingredients for the polyjuice potion from Snape's storeroom.

"It's alright Hermione..." said Harry as he put down the package and gave her a hug. He knew exactly what was bothering her. "...It was very brave of you to consider - and if I didn't have any money we might have had to do that."

"I'm glad you had the money, and that you thought of ordering it instead, Harry," Hermione replied in a small voice, still looking ashamed. "Snape's been almost nice to you and me this year - at least he hasn't been horrid - it would have been a shame to spoil that!"

"Yeah, it's weird though Hermione - I still get the feeling that he's not very keen on me sometimes. And then other times, I swear - I've caught him looking at me almost sadly. I wish I knew what that was all about, but I'm just happy I've managed to do alright in potions without Snape harassing me all the time."

"Better than alright Harry!" Hermione interjected almost breathlessly as her eyes shone, her embarrassment forgotten. "You've been doing just as well as me... we've both been beating out Malfoy's scores in potions!" she concluded with a grin.

Harry was shocked. He had done much better than he had expected he would last year, and he had been performing admirably this year, but he hadn't really given much thought to how his marks compared to Hermione's or Malfoy's. Harry had just been thrilled to not be at the bottom of the class - which was where Ron, Seamus, and Neville usually found themselves, along with Crabbe and Goyle, who only managed to barely pass just because Snape tended to favour Slytherins.

~o0o~

Harry and Hermione discovered most of the Gryffindors outside playing in the first snow of the season. Harry's hands were toasty, and he was more thankful than ever of the Self-Warming Gloves that Hermione had got him as a late birthday present when they'd been to Diagon Alley towards the end of summer.