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Aurora Areli
WHEN HERMIONE OPENED THE curtains around my bed on Sunday morning, flooding the space with warm golden sunlight, I was already awake and staring at the ceiling. I had been for a while. Hermione took one look at my bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks and sighed, sitting down on the edge of my bed.
"What happened?" she asked gently.
I squeezed my eyes shut and rolled over onto my side so that I was facing her. When I opened them again, Hermione was staring down at me, a concerned look on her face.
"Ron and Harry had a row when we got back," I told her, pulling myself up into a sitting position, before proceeding to tell her everything that had happened. "He called me stupid, Mione, he told me not to talk to him any more. I know it doesn't sound that terrible, but it hurts."
Hermione frowned sympathetically. "Don't listen to him, Rory, you're not stupid. You were right in sticking up for Harry — Ron's just jealous that he's getting more attention."
"Okay," I nodded, rubbing my puffy eyes, "you're probably right. But can we go to breakfast now? I'm hungry."
"Of course," said Hermione, and she waited for me to get dressed in my warm sweater and jeans before we headed down to the Great Hall.
We didn't see either of the boys on our short journey to breakfast. However, Ron was sitting alone at the end of Gryffindor table, sulkily stirring his porridge. Hermione grabbed my arm and pulled me over to sit across from him, much to my disfavour. Neither myself nor Ron looked at each other; instead, he simply acted as though I wasn't there.
I scowled. Two could play at that game.
As I was munching on a piece of buttered toast, I thought of Harry, who still hadn't come down to breakfast. It made sense that he didn't — the stares he would receive would be especially bad today; the Hufflepuffs were still looking rather annoyed and the Gryffindors seemed very excited.
Since the atmosphere around us in the Great Hall was so painfully strained, I decided to take my breakfast elsewhere. I gathered a large stack of toast (with plenty extra for Harry) in a napkin and stood up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, staring curiously at the toast.
"I'm going to go find Harry, since I'm obviously not wanted here," I said, glaring in Ron's direction. "You coming?"
"Oh, um," Hermione said, casting an unsure glance at Ron, who didn't look up from his plate. "All right."
So we set off out of the Great Hall and up many flights of stairs to Gryffindor Tower. Five minutes later, I was just about to tell the Fat Lady the password when the portrait suddenly swung open to reveal a tired-looking Harry on the other side.
