Escaping Darkness [Book 1 of Through Darkness and Light]

Chapter 5: I'll Be There

A/N: So, the song to the right kind of fits the end of this chapter...go listen! :)

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"Wake up, mate! You don't want to be late for breakfast!"

A crime, in the eyes of one Ronald Weasley. Harry groaned, and sat up slowly, his hair mussed. He quickly found his glasses and placed them on his face, blinking sleepily. "Ron, breakfast isn't going to run away," he yawned. Ron grunted.

"It's Hogwarts. It just might," he grumbled. Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled, before rolling out of bed. He was glad that Ron had seemingly forgot the night before, and was talking to him again. It wouldn't last long, he was sure, but for now, it was nice to have a friendly face to wake up to. Even if said friendly face was rather dimwitted at times, and a bit narrow-minded.

Despite Ron's complaints that they were going to be late, Harry was dressed in no time, and they, with Hermione, were walking into the Great Hall, the breakfast plates just appearing. Harry shot Ron a smug grin, with a quick, "I told you we wouldn't be late," to which the redhead just grunted again.

They sat down, and the instant he touched the wooden bench, Ron began shoveling food onto his plate, where it shortly met its demise in his mouth. Hermione began to fill her own plate, as did Harry. He didn't eat right away, however, opting to push food around his plate instead.

Hermione noticed, and she pursed her lips. "You need to eat," she said snootily. "It's not healthy to eat as little as you do."

Harry looked up at her, annoyed. "I'm going to eat. Do you see me standing up and walking away without eating?" he asked defensively. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Relax. I'm just telling you that you need to eat more than you have been," she snapped. "You've been eating less than even a girl does!"

"I'm not hungry."

"I don't care. It's not healthy. I eat, even when I'm not hungry."

Well that's just peachy for you, Harry thought moodily. What had started out a decent morning was soured by Hermione's nagging. As usual. "What if I chose not to eat? Are you just going to shove it down my throat?" he asked in a nasty tone.

Hermione looked affronted. "Of course not! But I will make sure you do eat," she said firmly.

Short of shoving it in my mouth and forcing me to swallow, it's not going to happen. Harry rolled his eyes, and stabbed his fork at the plate, shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "Happy?" he asked, his mouth full of eggs.

"Now you look like Ron."

Harry glanced at Ron, who had missed the exchange, and was still busily wolfing down food. He took in the redhead's bulging cheeks, and the bits of egg and jam forming a juvenile form of facial hair. Overall, the sight was rather unappealing. "Gee thanks," Harry said sarcastically, turning back to his bushy-haired friend.

Hermione sniffed, and turned back to her plate, satisfied with her short lecture, and assured that Harry would eat. Harry sighed, and went back to pushing his food around with a fork.

The food tasted fine, to be sure, but he wasn't hungry. He never was. And he certainly didn't want to overeat. Images of his cousin Dudley and of his uncle filled Harry's mind. He fought back a grimace. He certainly did not want to end up looking like them - greasy, overstuffed pigs.

Harry ate in silence for a while, deciding it would be easier to appease Hermione, just this once. He could always do some extra Quidditch practice, or something, to lose the extra weight. Yes...that would work. Satisfied, Harry continued to eat, noting smugly how Hermione nodded in approval, mollified.