Harry Potter: Love's Second Chance

"No, what you suffered from was a jealousy potion, keyed to the red-head," Miranda said. "You obviously must have had a reason to be jealous of Miss Brown right? So your logical mind figured out you must like Ron Weasley. Rather a good plan too. They used the potion for a while, stopped using it, and let your mind take over. Of course, Ronald didn't come up with it. That was," The Goddess looked at Harry, "your girlfriend."

"Who? Ginny? But why?"

"Because she wanted you, and you were way to close to Hermione for her comfort. Of course you got your own dose of jealousy potion, keyed to her."

"WHAT!"

"That monster that kept cropping up in your chest when you saw Ginny with someone else?" Miranda asked. "You didn't think that was love did you? Love is wanting someone to be happy no matter what it costs you. No, that feeling you felt was jealousy, and artificial jealousy at that."

"But you said it almost cost Hermione and me our friendship," Harry said.

"The book," Hermione said softly. "That bloody Half-Blood Prince book."

"You were jealous of it, weren't you?" Miranda asked. "Harry finally starts doing well in a potions class, and you get jealous? Does that really sound like you after five years of pestering him to do better?"

"No," Hermione admitted. "But it wasn't his own work.." She stopped as she considered that year.

"You realize it now don't you?" Miranda asked. "Notes in a book to better explain a potion? Is that really something to be jealous of? Many people do that. It wasn't like Harry was buying potions from an apothecary and turning them in as his own work, was it?"

"I...I.." Hermione started but then after a sigh. "No, it wasn't."

"Of course, you being jealous of a book was just a side effect of the potions. You see, they, or I should say Ginny, had made one huge batch of the jealousy potion and then separated it into exactly the same size dosages," The goddess explained. "She didn't account for the weight difference between you and Harry, so your jealousy was more extreme and emotional, especially when you add in your time of the month. That's what caused the jealousy to bleed over to that book."

"I…I" Hermione sputtered hopelessly as she tried to figure out why she had not noticed.

"I go to all that trouble to set up that pun, and neither of you laughed. Bled over? Your time of the month…" Miranda sighed. "Nevermind. Anyway, your girlfriend and your future boyfriend were feeding you jealousy potions, and as soon as they broke up with their respective partners, of course you were interested in them. If not, then why were you jealous?"

"But Ron's always been there for us," Hermione insisted.

"He has?" Miranda asked with a smirk. "Tell me about those times?"

"Just a few months ago he saved my life," Harry exploded in defense of his first friend. "He saved me from drowning in that pond."

"Yes, he did," The Goddess agreed, "Wow, he jumped into a pond of WATER and pulled you out," The Goddess looked thoughtful as she lightly tapped a foot before continuing. "Not much risking his life there, yes the water was a bit cold, but did he have to fight a monster to save you? Oh that's right; he just had to cut a necklace off your neck. For that act of 'heroism'," Again the sarcasm was very evident, "he is immediately back in your good graces, after spending months warm and fed at his brother's house, while you two continued to suffer from cold and hunger."

"What about the troll?" Hermione argued.

"First of all, he basically had to be dragged along to help you," Miranda explained. "But even when he was there, did he move more than five feet away from the door?"

"Well I don't think so, but.."

"But nothing. If that troll had actually taken a step in his direction, he would have been out of there in a heartbeat."

What about when he sacrificed himself in the chess game, when we were after the stone?" Hermione asked.

"Did he really? Think back to that game. Did the black pieces get killed? No, they were dragged off the board where they huddled along the back wall. They weren't dead. Ron knew that.

Remember, he's been playing Wizard's chess all of his life. He knew the pieces never 'die'. So was it truly a sacrifice on his part, or his way of getting out of the adventure in one piece? Did either of you check on him at the time? (A/N in the book, which I write from, the white queen drags Ron away and Harry and Hermione go on without checking on him unlike the movie)."

"He was unconscious when I went back for him," Hermione insisted.

"Cuts? Blood? Lump on the head?" Miranda asked.

"No," Hermione admitted as she searched her mind. "I don't think so and Madam Pomfrey didn't find anything. But...but it took a while for me to get him to wake up."

"I'll let you in on a secret; he was faking it. He was afraid you had come back to convince him to follow you. He only 'woke up' once you mentioned going back for help."

"HE WHAT?" Hermione exploded. "That could have cost Harry his life."

"Yes, it could have. And if it had, you'd have been down your soul mate, and the world down its Chosen One," Miranda replied. She turned her gaze back to Harry. "Since we're discussing the first year, do you remember what Ronald saw in the Mirror of Erised?"

Harry thought back to that night in their first year. "Yeah he saw himself Head Boy and Quidditch Captain."

"Now, in the years since he saw those things as what he truly desires, did he do a single thing to try to achieve those goals? Well, I guess he did talk Quidditch enough, but did he lift a single book he didn't have to? And when he was made Prefect, did he do the job well so he would have a chance at Head Boy?"

"Well, no."

"But he did criticize those who did try to do better, like your soul mate, didn't he? He kept trying to make himself better by pretending those around him were worse them him. Unfortunately, some of that rubbed off on you, Harry."

Harry opened his mouth to reply and closed it because he couldn't argue.

"You do know that his friendship was originally setup, don't you?" Miranda asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember how you first met the Weasleys?"

"At the station, I couldn't find out how to get on the platform, and Mrs. Weasley helped me when I asked her."

"But how did you know you could ask her for help?"

"I overheard Mrs. Weasley mentioning muggles, which Hagrid had said was a magical world word," Harry replied. "She was saying she couldn't remember the platform number, Ginny had to tell her it was nine and three quarters."

Hermione's hand shot to her mouth. "It was set up, wasn't it?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I really wish you'd read 'Hogwarts: A History!' someday, Harry. The train has always, and I mean ALWAYS, left from Platform nine and three quarters. There are no other magical platforms at Kings Cross."

"So?"

"Then why would Molly Weasley, who has been sending her kids to Hogwarts for over eight years, not remember the number? That's at least four times a year she goes there, including Christmas break. Then, of course, there is the seven years she went to Hogwarts herself. Could you imagine ever forgetting what the platform number is?"

"No," Harry admitted. "So they were doing it for me."

"Exactly, Harry," Miranda said.

"So his friendship was faked all of these years?"