After two
months of school, Amber had finally settled in by Hogwarts and even
had quite a few friends. One day until Halloween and it was a
beautiful Friday night. Some fourth and fifth years were sitting in
the Gryffindor common room. Harry, Amber, Ron and Hermione were
sitting on the poofy couch in front of the fireplace. They were
joking about all of the pranks that Fred and George were playing on
the sixth years upstairs. They had just finished their homework for
the weekend, so now they were just relaxing. Amber had secretly
conjured them some butterbeer and snap biscuits. They were talking
about going to Hogsmeade the next day, and which shops they were
going to visit.
'Harry, did you get your form signed this year?'
Hermione asked passing the biscuits over to him.
Amber looked
puzzled, and Harry explained.
'I live with my aunt and uncle,
muggles. They never let me have anything to do with magic or let me
study over the holidays.' Harry took another sip of his butterbeer
and stared into the gleaming coals.
'That sounds bad, don't
you have anyone else you can stay with?' Amber asked.
'Well, I
do have a godfather, but I can't stay with him at the moment.'
Harry said sadly.
'Oh, that really is bad…' Amber sunk her
head, feeling sorry for Harry.
They sat quietly for a moment, just
looking into the fire.
Ron eventually spoke, 'So, how are things
going with Draco and you?'
Amber turned disappointingly to Ron.
'Not so well actually. He and I have been fighting a lot lately
since I was put in Gryffindor. And we haven't really been spending
time together because we don't have time. But that's the way it
goes…' Amber sighed.
Harry got a sparkle of hope in his
eye.
'Well, I'm just going to go get you guys something. Just
wait here…' Amber ran up to the girl's dormitory.
'What do
you think she's gonna do?' Harry watched Amber running up the
stairs.
Hermione jumped up and stood in front of Harry and Ron,
then she bent down and started whispering.
'Do you remember when
Amber and I spoke on the first day before Herbology?' Harry and Ron
nodded.
'She told me about how Draco got furious every time
Amber said that she was friends with us. She thinks Draco is jealous
of Harry…' Hermione looked at their amazed faces staring back at
her.
Ron's eyes widened. 'So, do you think it's true,
Hermione?'
Harry put down his mug of butterbeer and leaned in
closer to listen.
'It could be, well, it would explain a lot of
things.' Hermione answered.
Hermione sat back down quickly,
hearing footsteps coming down the stairs. Then Amber appeared back in
front of them.
'Okay, each of you pick a colour…' Amber held
her hands behind her back waiting for an answer.
'Red…'
Harry said.
'Umm, purple…'Hermione added.
'How about
green?' Ron asked.
'Okay here are your gifts…' Amber held
out three bracelets.
Each one of them was silver with a gem of
each of their colours.
'Harry, here's a ruby. Hermione, you
got an amethyst and Ron here's an emerald.' Amber handed them
their respective bracelets.
'But how did you know what colours
we like?' Hermione looked at her bracelet then at Amber.
'Let's
just say I have sources…' Amber smiled.
They fastened their
bracelets around their arms.
'Do you at least have one?' Harry
asked.
'Of course I do…' Amber pulled up her sleeve and
there was a bracelet with a sapphire in it. They all looked at their
bracelets, 'Why did you get us these?' Ron looked at Amber with
the same face Hermione did.
'I can spoil my friends, can't I?'
Amber rolled her eyes and smiled.
Hermione jumped up and hugged
Amber, 'Oh, thank you so much Amz! We are really lucky to have you
as a friend.'
Amber looked over Hermione's shoulder and saw
Ron and Harry nodding.
'Well, I'm really lucky to have you
guys too.' Amber eyes were on the point of watering.
They all
sat back down, and looked at each other's bracelets.
'How
could you afford these? They must've cost a fortune…' Ron
pointed out.
Harry and Hermione both leaned forward and waited for
an answer.
'Well, I can afford it…sort of…' Amber
grinned.
'Did you buy these with Draco's money?' Harry had
his fingers on the latchet, ready to take off his bracelet.
'Who
needs Draco's money? I've more than enough of my own.' Amber
beamed.
They all looked down, obviously rethinking about
Amber.
'Well thanks again for the bracelets, they really are
beautiful.' Harry said.
'It's a pleasure. So where are we
going tomorrow?' Amber asked eagerly.
'Well, Zonko's and
Honeyduke's is a must, then maybe we can visit the Shrieking Shack
and afterwards we can go to the Three Broomsticks.' Ron
suggested.
'But if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go
to bed now…' Ron yawned.
'I think I'll join you Ron…'
Hermione and Ron went upstairs to their rooms.
'So, will you be
joining us at Hogsmeade tomorrow?' Amber asked with a devilish
grin.
'My form isn't signed, remember?' Harry said
miserably.
'But what if it were signed?' Amber said with an
even more devious smile.
'How will you get it signed?' Harry
asked again.
'Well, do you know what your uncle's signature
looks like?' Amber replied.
'Yes but how…' Amber grabbed
his hand and pulled out her wand.
'Now close your eyes and just
remember what his signature looked like…don't worry, this won't
hurt a bit.' Harry closed his eyes and concentrated,
'Now give
your form please, Harry.' Harry took the crumpled form out of his
pocket and gave it to Amber.
'Remember what his signature looks
like…' Amber took her wand and put it on Harry's palm.
She
lifted it gently and white fog came out of Harry's palm, then she
put it to the piece of paper. Harry opened his eyes and watched black
ink scrawling across the paper.
'Wow, that's…amazing.'
Harry gasped at his uncle's forged signature. Harry picked up his
form and put it back in his pocket.
'Well thanks anyway. But
Hermione and Ron are going to know.' Harry raised his
eyebrows.
'But they'll understand won't they?' Amber
asked.
Harry nodded, hoping that they would. They sat watching
people leave for bed, and the fire slowly dying out in its
fireplace.
'I suppose we should go to bed as well.' Amber
suggested.
'We could, but tomorrow is Saturday so we don't
really need to.' Harry said.
'Good point. How about I conjure
us something to drink?' Amber asked.
'No thanks, but maybe I
should put another log in the fire…' Harry picked up a log and
threw it in the fireplace.
Sparks jumped around the new log just
as Harry sat down.
'So…how is it going with school Harry?'
Amber asked.
'Well you are there, you should know.' Harry
joked.
'Yes I am, but I never see your marks do I?' Amber
gleamed and put her legs up onto the couch facing Harry.
'Well,
I'm doing okay I suppose. Except for Transfiguration and Potions.
Never been much good at those.' Harry sighed.
'Well I could
help you, its really easy you know. Just got to know the shortcuts
and that stuff.' Amber smiled her usual sweet, innocent
smile.
'Sure. That would be a really big help.'
They
watched the last few people leave the common room, and the log being
swallowed in jumping flames.
'So, Amber. Here's one question
none of us have ever asked you. Why are you dating Draco Malfoy?'
Harry watched Amber's eyes go from curiousness to wonder.
'Well,
I don't really know. I just went out with him.'
Harry
looked puzzled.
'We've known each other for a long time, but I
moved house and didn't see him since then. After we won the match
against England two years ago, I was invited to a congratulations
party in the minister's box. Draco was there with his dad and we
chatted for a while about when we were kids, then he asked me out.
We've been dating since then.' Amber said.
'But if you're
so unsure why you're dating him, why don't you just leave him?'
Harry asked.
'I could, but Draco has always been so kind to me.
If he gave me really good reason I would probably leave him. And
lately he's giving me a lot of good reasons to leave him. If he
upsets me once more I will.' Amber smiled mysteriously.
Harry
laughed half-heartedly. Amber yawned and slid down into the couch.
'I
think we should go to bed now; it's almost one in the morning.'
Harry got up and helped Amber to her feet, and helped her up the
stairs.
He stopped outside her room.
'Well good night.'
Harry said, lifting Amber's arm off around his shoulders.
'Thanks
Harry. Good night to you too.' She yawned once more and walked into
her room. She waved to Harry before closing the door. Harry smiled
and walked to his room, smiling to himself all the way.
