Post by Asphodel on Jul 30, 2006 20:28:18 GMT -5
AN: A few of you might remember me from my brief stay in this comm. when I first joined, but sadly, after real life and HBP took hold, I lost the will to write, and for a time, even really enjoy ADMM. But, as they say, even death cannot stop love, nor, it would seem, my desire to write stories about my favorite couple. Just go easy on me, eh? I'm a tad rusty. 
[glow=red,2,300]Chapter One: An Excercise in Normalcy[/glow]
It was a very normal morning at Hogwarts, in every sense of the word that can possibly be applied to a magical school with talking paintings and mischievous ghosts, among other things. The students were all sitting in their normal seats at their normal house tables, eating their respective (and quite normal) breakfasts. They were all talking about -relatively- normal things, and going about their normal morning routines.
It was exactly this sense of absolute normalcy that was about to drive Harry Potter up a wall.
“Say, ‘Mione, did you get the answer to question number 5?” Ron Weasley asked casually through a mouthful of toast, from beside Harry. He was -like normal- trying to figure out a way to convince Hermione to let him copy her homework
The bushy-haired girl gave him her normal scowl in return, her brown eyes glaring at him in fierce and well-practiced disapproval. “Of course I did, Ron.”
The freckled young man gave what he hoped was a charming smile in return. “Well, that’s great! So-”
“Of course I’ve finished it, Ron,” she cut him off sharply. “But you cannot look at it.”
Ron scowled back, just as he normally did at this point in the argument. “Why in the bloody hell not?”
Hermione affected a very prim and irritated expression. “Because you don’t want just one answer, Ron, as we both know! You want to copy! And I’m not going to let you. It’s your own fault for not doing the work! And watch your language.”
As normal and frankly repetitive as this answer was, it never ceased to infuriate Ron. Shooting her a deeply disgusted look, he drew himself up to convey how very affronted he was by the notion. “Hey! I’ll have you know-“
“Oh knock it off, you two!” Hermione and Ron were startled from their impending fight by Harry’s ill-tempered growl (which was, in fact, rather abnormal), to find their friend munching thoughtfully on a piece of toast and glaring moodily up at the head table.
Argument momentarily forgotten, Ron frowned, concerned and also vaguely annoyed that Harry had interrupted his routine. “What’s the matter, mate?”
Harry snorted cynically, and waved his toast absently towards the staff table, where all the teachers were (predictably) carrying about their normal morning activites. “Look at them!” He said, his tone unquestionably incensed.
Ron and Hermione exchanged confused glances. “Er, look at who, Harry? The professors?” Hermione asked, hesitantly.
“Of course!” Came the irate reply.
Ron shot his best friend an uneasy look. “Well...they all look pretty normal to me, Harry. Nothing unusual about anything, or–”
“And that,” declared Harry with fervor, “is exactly the problem!” He nodded to himself as though things were quite clear now, making Hermione and Ron altogether more confused.
“So...” Hermione said slowly, “you’re angry because...the Professors are all...normal?”
Harry made a disgusted noise. “No, no, no! Not all the Professors, of course, just those two! “ He waved his toast even more vigorously up at the Head Table, making bread crumbs fly in all directions, some landing in Lavender Brown’s oatmeal, though he completely ignored her offended shriek. Worst of all, he still wasn’t making any sense, his green eyes staring out from under his messy hair in a brooding manner.
Ron glanced up at the table nervously. “Eh…which two, Mate?”
Finally, Harry turned to look at them, staring in exasperated shock. “McGonagall and Dumbledore, of course!”
Hermione’s brow furrowed, and she looked up at the staff table again, staring very hard as though trying to discover if either of the professors had suddenly sprouted an extra head. “What exactly is bothering you, Harry?”
“Well, look at them!” He exploded, tossing his toast onto his plate in despair.
Hermione and Ron looked for the tenth time, for the tenth time finding absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. The transfiguration professor and the headmaster were sitting side by side, immersed in conversation, just like normal. Professor McGonagall’s brow was tilted in a clearly skeptical manner, as Dumbledore spoke with a merry smile on his face, his fingers steepled before him. Suddenly McGonagall’s eyebrows rose quite alarmingly, and she appeared to blush slightly, while the headmaster fell into a fit of good-natured chuckling.
“Er, is there something different about them?” Ron asked uncertainly.
“They look perfectly fine to me, Harry,” Hermione added. “Normal, like you said.”
“Normal! It’s all absolutely normal! Of course it is!” Harry moaned. “And that’s exactly the problem!”
There was a moment of perplexed silence. Harry sighed. “They’re sitting next to one another, just like normal. Talking together just like normal. Flirting with each other just like-”
“Flirting?” Ron sputtered suddenly, choking a bit on his eggs. Harry shot him a supremely nasty look which quite clearly suggested a future of unpleasant hexes on sensitive body parts, and the red-head fell silent.
“Yes, flirting,” snapped the green-eyed boy. “Just like normal. Mooning over each other, just like normal! And neither one of them noticing a bloody thing about it– just like normal!”
“Mooning? What? What?” Ron asked, looking at Harry like he’d been hit by a particularly nasty confundus charm. “You’re off your bloody rocker, Mate!” He shook his head.
Quite out of habit, Hermione’s mouth opened to unleash a scolding on the two of them about their language. But as it did so, her eyes flickered up to the head table once again, and a light seemed to turn on inside them, her lips instead falling shut in an apprehensive frown as she stared. “Do you know, I rather think you might be right.”
“What?” Ron stared at the two of them, gobsmacked.
“Look at them, Ron! Just look!” And so, at his best friend’s bidding, Ron did.
At first all he saw was his stern Head of House talking to his Headmaster. But as he watched, the picture seemed to tilt and shift a little, and quite suddenly, Ron Weasley was seeing things in a whole new light.
Ron saw the way there always seemed to be a smile lingering about the corners of her mouth when she spoke to him, and the severe set of her brow seemed to ease and smooth a bit. Ron saw the way his blue eyes seemed to twinkle even more than usual when she was around, and the vaguely aloof manner was dropped from his personage when they conversed. Ron saw how she laughed: just a little huff of amusement, but so much more than anyone would ever see when he wasn’t around. Ron saw the way they leaned towards one another, and he suddenly saw how they both loved each other, as well. And how neither of them saw any of it at all. Just like normal.
And then, of course, Ron Weasley was torn between the urge get a little teary at the predicament of the two of them, or to gouge out his own eyes with a spoon. He settled on gaping and making vague wheezing noises. “Bloody hell.
“Exactly,” Harry said, sounding grimly satisfied.
“Well...there have always been rumors,” Hermione said, hesitantly.
“You mean, everyone is always talking about how they obviously have a thing for one another,” Harry returned, while Ron was still gazing blankly up at the staff table.
“Well yes, but I suppose it’s become such a standard rumor that-- Ron, stop staring-- that no one ever really stops to look at how true it really must be.”
Scrambling to catch up after his startling revelation, Ron blurted out, “But all the rumors are about how they’re already together! Everyone thinks they’re already– ” He made a vague motion with his hand.
“But looking that them now, I don’t really suppose they are together yet, are they?” Hermione asked. And for once, Ron understood exactly what she meant, because he had also seen the silence in their eyes. “But everyone know’s they’re in love,” She continued after a moment. “Surely they must as well? I mean...everyone knows...”
“Except for them,” Harry said, with a huff. “I’m so sick of watching them bat their eyes at one another and walk in opposite directions!”
“Well…it’s not exactly any of our business, Harry, I mean…” Hermione trailed off uncertainly.
“And it’s not like it’s anything out of the ordinary, either. I mean, this must’ve been going on for years, right?” Ron added.
Harry scowled at them. “Hermione, it may not be our business, but they’re driving one another mad, and neither of them realizes the other has the same feelings! This has been going on for years, maybe decades, yes, and it’s only hurting them senselessly. You should see how they watch one another when the other isn’t looking. Their both madly in love, and probably completely depressed, because they don’t think the other returns the sentiment. Just because it’s normal, doesn’t make it right.”
Ron was left wondering just how long Harry had been watching the two, while Hermione sighed. “It is too bad. If any of our professors deserve a little happiness, it’s them.”
“Well, if they’re both that blind, maybe things just aren’t meant to be. Maybe they ought to just start dating other people,” Ron said, in what he thought was a perfectly sensible way.
Hermione looked horrified, disgusted, and altogether put-out in that haughty, obnoxious way that females are sometimes prone to behave in when confronted with the realities of romance. “Ron! You can’t just expect people who are in love to just...pretend it doesn’t exist– no matter how unhappy they may be! It doesn’t work like that! It’s ridiculous! It’s– ”
“Brilliant,” Harry cut in with a gasp, sounding dazed, much to the others’ surprise. “Absolutely bloody brilliant!” His jade eyes lit up with a rather maniacal glow. He rubbed his hands together, and chuckled lowly.
Ron’s eyes widened, and Hermione looked uncomfortable. “Er...Harry?”
He turned to stare up at the staff table once more, watching as Professor Dumbledore poured more pumpkin juice into Professor McGonagall’s goblet. A slow smile spread across his face. “I have a plan.
Two of the three friends cringed. “What...what exactly does this plan involve, Harry?” Hermione asked finally, sounding as though she dearly regretted the question already
Harry only donned an expression of pure mischief, and shook his head. “Wait until tonight…” He told them, and rose quickly from his seat, hurrying from the great hall, and pausing only to give the headmaster and deputy headmistress a withering glare– not that either of them noticed, of course. They were both too wrapped up in each other to notice much of anything else. Which was completely normal. Ron and Hermione sat there, looks of unease clear.
“Harry…has never been one for plans…” Hermione said slowly. “But when he does get them...Well...I mean, he’s always trying to do the right thing, but...the fact of the matter is...”
“We’re doomed,” Ron moaned. Hermione just nodded glumly. Both were certain of one thing, however: Whatever Harry was planning would undoubtedly redefine “normal” for everyone within the walls of Hogwarts.
But, after all, what else could be expected?
---
Feedback is better than money! Well, you know...sort of.
[glow=red,2,300]Chapter One: An Excercise in Normalcy[/glow]
It was a very normal morning at Hogwarts, in every sense of the word that can possibly be applied to a magical school with talking paintings and mischievous ghosts, among other things. The students were all sitting in their normal seats at their normal house tables, eating their respective (and quite normal) breakfasts. They were all talking about -relatively- normal things, and going about their normal morning routines.
It was exactly this sense of absolute normalcy that was about to drive Harry Potter up a wall.
“Say, ‘Mione, did you get the answer to question number 5?” Ron Weasley asked casually through a mouthful of toast, from beside Harry. He was -like normal- trying to figure out a way to convince Hermione to let him copy her homework
The bushy-haired girl gave him her normal scowl in return, her brown eyes glaring at him in fierce and well-practiced disapproval. “Of course I did, Ron.”
The freckled young man gave what he hoped was a charming smile in return. “Well, that’s great! So-”
“Of course I’ve finished it, Ron,” she cut him off sharply. “But you cannot look at it.”
Ron scowled back, just as he normally did at this point in the argument. “Why in the bloody hell not?”
Hermione affected a very prim and irritated expression. “Because you don’t want just one answer, Ron, as we both know! You want to copy! And I’m not going to let you. It’s your own fault for not doing the work! And watch your language.”
As normal and frankly repetitive as this answer was, it never ceased to infuriate Ron. Shooting her a deeply disgusted look, he drew himself up to convey how very affronted he was by the notion. “Hey! I’ll have you know-“
“Oh knock it off, you two!” Hermione and Ron were startled from their impending fight by Harry’s ill-tempered growl (which was, in fact, rather abnormal), to find their friend munching thoughtfully on a piece of toast and glaring moodily up at the head table.
Argument momentarily forgotten, Ron frowned, concerned and also vaguely annoyed that Harry had interrupted his routine. “What’s the matter, mate?”
Harry snorted cynically, and waved his toast absently towards the staff table, where all the teachers were (predictably) carrying about their normal morning activites. “Look at them!” He said, his tone unquestionably incensed.
Ron and Hermione exchanged confused glances. “Er, look at who, Harry? The professors?” Hermione asked, hesitantly.
“Of course!” Came the irate reply.
Ron shot his best friend an uneasy look. “Well...they all look pretty normal to me, Harry. Nothing unusual about anything, or–”
“And that,” declared Harry with fervor, “is exactly the problem!” He nodded to himself as though things were quite clear now, making Hermione and Ron altogether more confused.
“So...” Hermione said slowly, “you’re angry because...the Professors are all...normal?”
Harry made a disgusted noise. “No, no, no! Not all the Professors, of course, just those two! “ He waved his toast even more vigorously up at the Head Table, making bread crumbs fly in all directions, some landing in Lavender Brown’s oatmeal, though he completely ignored her offended shriek. Worst of all, he still wasn’t making any sense, his green eyes staring out from under his messy hair in a brooding manner.
Ron glanced up at the table nervously. “Eh…which two, Mate?”
Finally, Harry turned to look at them, staring in exasperated shock. “McGonagall and Dumbledore, of course!”
Hermione’s brow furrowed, and she looked up at the staff table again, staring very hard as though trying to discover if either of the professors had suddenly sprouted an extra head. “What exactly is bothering you, Harry?”
“Well, look at them!” He exploded, tossing his toast onto his plate in despair.
Hermione and Ron looked for the tenth time, for the tenth time finding absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. The transfiguration professor and the headmaster were sitting side by side, immersed in conversation, just like normal. Professor McGonagall’s brow was tilted in a clearly skeptical manner, as Dumbledore spoke with a merry smile on his face, his fingers steepled before him. Suddenly McGonagall’s eyebrows rose quite alarmingly, and she appeared to blush slightly, while the headmaster fell into a fit of good-natured chuckling.
“Er, is there something different about them?” Ron asked uncertainly.
“They look perfectly fine to me, Harry,” Hermione added. “Normal, like you said.”
“Normal! It’s all absolutely normal! Of course it is!” Harry moaned. “And that’s exactly the problem!”
There was a moment of perplexed silence. Harry sighed. “They’re sitting next to one another, just like normal. Talking together just like normal. Flirting with each other just like-”
“Flirting?” Ron sputtered suddenly, choking a bit on his eggs. Harry shot him a supremely nasty look which quite clearly suggested a future of unpleasant hexes on sensitive body parts, and the red-head fell silent.
“Yes, flirting,” snapped the green-eyed boy. “Just like normal. Mooning over each other, just like normal! And neither one of them noticing a bloody thing about it– just like normal!”
“Mooning? What? What?” Ron asked, looking at Harry like he’d been hit by a particularly nasty confundus charm. “You’re off your bloody rocker, Mate!” He shook his head.
Quite out of habit, Hermione’s mouth opened to unleash a scolding on the two of them about their language. But as it did so, her eyes flickered up to the head table once again, and a light seemed to turn on inside them, her lips instead falling shut in an apprehensive frown as she stared. “Do you know, I rather think you might be right.”
“What?” Ron stared at the two of them, gobsmacked.
“Look at them, Ron! Just look!” And so, at his best friend’s bidding, Ron did.
At first all he saw was his stern Head of House talking to his Headmaster. But as he watched, the picture seemed to tilt and shift a little, and quite suddenly, Ron Weasley was seeing things in a whole new light.
Ron saw the way there always seemed to be a smile lingering about the corners of her mouth when she spoke to him, and the severe set of her brow seemed to ease and smooth a bit. Ron saw the way his blue eyes seemed to twinkle even more than usual when she was around, and the vaguely aloof manner was dropped from his personage when they conversed. Ron saw how she laughed: just a little huff of amusement, but so much more than anyone would ever see when he wasn’t around. Ron saw the way they leaned towards one another, and he suddenly saw how they both loved each other, as well. And how neither of them saw any of it at all. Just like normal.
And then, of course, Ron Weasley was torn between the urge get a little teary at the predicament of the two of them, or to gouge out his own eyes with a spoon. He settled on gaping and making vague wheezing noises. “Bloody hell.
“Exactly,” Harry said, sounding grimly satisfied.
“Well...there have always been rumors,” Hermione said, hesitantly.
“You mean, everyone is always talking about how they obviously have a thing for one another,” Harry returned, while Ron was still gazing blankly up at the staff table.
“Well yes, but I suppose it’s become such a standard rumor that-- Ron, stop staring-- that no one ever really stops to look at how true it really must be.”
Scrambling to catch up after his startling revelation, Ron blurted out, “But all the rumors are about how they’re already together! Everyone thinks they’re already– ” He made a vague motion with his hand.
“But looking that them now, I don’t really suppose they are together yet, are they?” Hermione asked. And for once, Ron understood exactly what she meant, because he had also seen the silence in their eyes. “But everyone know’s they’re in love,” She continued after a moment. “Surely they must as well? I mean...everyone knows...”
“Except for them,” Harry said, with a huff. “I’m so sick of watching them bat their eyes at one another and walk in opposite directions!”
“Well…it’s not exactly any of our business, Harry, I mean…” Hermione trailed off uncertainly.
“And it’s not like it’s anything out of the ordinary, either. I mean, this must’ve been going on for years, right?” Ron added.
Harry scowled at them. “Hermione, it may not be our business, but they’re driving one another mad, and neither of them realizes the other has the same feelings! This has been going on for years, maybe decades, yes, and it’s only hurting them senselessly. You should see how they watch one another when the other isn’t looking. Their both madly in love, and probably completely depressed, because they don’t think the other returns the sentiment. Just because it’s normal, doesn’t make it right.”
Ron was left wondering just how long Harry had been watching the two, while Hermione sighed. “It is too bad. If any of our professors deserve a little happiness, it’s them.”
“Well, if they’re both that blind, maybe things just aren’t meant to be. Maybe they ought to just start dating other people,” Ron said, in what he thought was a perfectly sensible way.
Hermione looked horrified, disgusted, and altogether put-out in that haughty, obnoxious way that females are sometimes prone to behave in when confronted with the realities of romance. “Ron! You can’t just expect people who are in love to just...pretend it doesn’t exist– no matter how unhappy they may be! It doesn’t work like that! It’s ridiculous! It’s– ”
“Brilliant,” Harry cut in with a gasp, sounding dazed, much to the others’ surprise. “Absolutely bloody brilliant!” His jade eyes lit up with a rather maniacal glow. He rubbed his hands together, and chuckled lowly.
Ron’s eyes widened, and Hermione looked uncomfortable. “Er...Harry?”
He turned to stare up at the staff table once more, watching as Professor Dumbledore poured more pumpkin juice into Professor McGonagall’s goblet. A slow smile spread across his face. “I have a plan.
Two of the three friends cringed. “What...what exactly does this plan involve, Harry?” Hermione asked finally, sounding as though she dearly regretted the question already
Harry only donned an expression of pure mischief, and shook his head. “Wait until tonight…” He told them, and rose quickly from his seat, hurrying from the great hall, and pausing only to give the headmaster and deputy headmistress a withering glare– not that either of them noticed, of course. They were both too wrapped up in each other to notice much of anything else. Which was completely normal. Ron and Hermione sat there, looks of unease clear.
“Harry…has never been one for plans…” Hermione said slowly. “But when he does get them...Well...I mean, he’s always trying to do the right thing, but...the fact of the matter is...”
“We’re doomed,” Ron moaned. Hermione just nodded glumly. Both were certain of one thing, however: Whatever Harry was planning would undoubtedly redefine “normal” for everyone within the walls of Hogwarts.
But, after all, what else could be expected?
---
Feedback is better than money! Well, you know...sort of.
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This has to be updated soon.. or.. I may die.
The day after I posted, I went to camp for a week, then came back for two days, then went on vacation for a week and a half, and then school started again, and my brain is currently smoldering under the strain of having to study again. 
