Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

The Firebolt

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V|

No one spoke about it. Dinner came, the four of sat together at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and we didn't say a word. As soon as we had reached the common room, Harry disappeared up to his dormitory. The usually talkative, downright annoying lad was silent — and that was rather uneasy for the rest of us.

"Do you suspect he's alright?" asked Hermione nervously, the second after he had disappeared from our sight.

She was sunk onto one of the maroon, plush armchairs by the fire; after having discarded her hat and scarf, her bushy hair was now a poof about her head. She didn't seem to notice this, however, too occupied with biting down on her already short nails as she stared deep into the orange flames.

"No, of course not," I said immediately, still stood near the portrait hole. I ran a hand over my face, rubbing beneath my tired eyes for a moment too long. "How could he possibly be alright? If I had — he —" I breathed in deeply. "Ron, go check on him."

"What?" said Ron, his neck snapping as he turned to look at me. He was lounged out on the sofa, arms spread out over the back. "Why me?"

"Because," I stomped over to him, leaving behind a trail of water on the dark carpet with every step. My socks were soaked inside my trainers from the melted snow outside, and the feeling was enough to make me more irritable than I already was. "I am currently mad at him. Besides, you're his dormmate. It would be odd for Hermione or I, females may I remind you, to barge into a boy's room at eight o'clock in the evening!"

Ron let out a sigh. "Maybe we should just leave him alone for a bit. . . give him some time to himself, to think."

"Get up those stairs, now."

"It was worth a try."

I stayed there for another moment, hands on my hips, simply watching to assure that my brother completed his task. He was gone for only a moment, before he suddenly returned: stamping back down the staircase, consistently checking over his shoulder. He approached me with a frown.

"He wouldn't talk," he said. "I think he's asleep."

"Oh, he is not asleep," I said, shaking my head quickly. I rounded the couch and sank down onto it. "You're right, let's leave him alone."

"Can you imagine that?" said Hermione in a whisper as Ron sat down beside me. There were tears glistening in her brown eyes, and the sight tugged at my heart. "C-can you imagine one of us, how long we've been friends . . . we spend our years of school together, we graduate together, and then — then we betray one another."

Her only response was silence.

—————

"Harry, you — you look terrible."

The common room was almost entirely empty this morning, aside from the four of us. It was a Sunday, which meant that everyone was either out and about the castle with friends or simply still asleep in their beds.

Hermione and I had left the dormitory before the sun had risen, guilt weighing on our chests, and clambered down to sit by the fireplace for whenever Harry awoke. Ron joined us first at around eight o'clock with word that Harry was still asleep, locked away behind his bed curtains.

"Where is everyone?" asked Harry as soon as he had stepped off of the bottom stair, ignoring Hermione's comment and looking around at each of us.

"Gone! It's the first day of the holidays, remember?" said Ron from where he was laid back on the couch, his feet up on the glass table and his hands rubbing his stomach. He had just finished eating a bag of Peppermint Toads. "It's nearly lunchtime; I was going to come and wake you up in a minute."