Harry picked up his glass and took another drink. He had a terrible headache, and voices kept running through his mind. He couldn't understand why the voices wouldn't just leave him alone.
Ginny laughed brightly. "Honestly, Harry, supper was wonderful. You're really not a bad cook. I mean, you're not exactly a good cook, but you're not bad either. What?" she asked with renewed laughter. "It was a compliment!"
His neighbor was playing a radio loudly. Harry considered yelling at him to turn it down, but decided it was too much work. Instead he just tried to ignore it. He wasn't having much luck.
Harry watched Ginny as she slept on his bed. She looked so calm. He stroked her hair from her face before standing up to leave. "Where are you going?" she asked sleepily without opening her eyes.
"Out. I'll be back before you wake up."
She opened her eyes now and looked at him unhappily. "No, you won't. Just promise me you will be back."
"I promise I'll be back, safe and sound. Nothing can keep me from coming back to you."
He rubbed his eyes to clear them as he got up to get another firewhiskey. He wasn't going to work tomorrow, he decided. And anyone who complained be damned.
"So I told him that I had no idea that it was important, and that I had thought it was supposed to turn blue," Ron was saying animatedly to gales of laughter, "and, well, of course he just felt horrible. So he promised to refund the entire cost, and he actually apologized to me for the whole ordeal."
Harry was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. "Oh, Ron," Hermione said, wiping tears from her eyes and still giggling, "Ron, you're simply horrible!"
"No," Ginny laughed, "you're wonderful!"
Hermione would be furious. For a moment he felt guilty at disappointing her further, but he quickly pushed the thought aside. She had more important things to worry about than him, he decided. If she wanted to be upset, let her.
Harry leaned closer to the book as Hermione explained her findings.
"So, what does all that actually mean?" Ron asked finally.
"It means," she answered, "we have to be very careful."
His head still hurt, and the pain wasn't going away. But he was tired now. Sleep, he thought, and deal with the rest in the morning.
"I'll be fine!" Ginny said, exasperated. "You go with Ron and Hermione and focus on finding Bellatrix. Luna and I can handle Flint. I dealt with him in school a hundred times. We'll meet you back at headquarters. Now go!"
Harry made his way to his bedroom and collapsed on his bed, falling quickly into a blessedly dreamless sleep.