A/N: I am sorry for such the long wait. A lot has been going on, and honestly for a while, I simply lost the want to even write. That and the fact this chapter gave me a lot of trouble to get through, I don't know what it was, but I just had such a block writing this chapter. I finally got back into the groove of it, though, and it started flowing all over again. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One:

First Date

Elizabeth had thought once she and Harry were alone, there wouldn't be any nerves anymore over their first date. Yet she felt even more nervous than ever. There was a sort of awkwardness between them as they made their way along the street hand-in-hand. Elizabeth noticed a few Hogwarts students they past would give them odd looks, then lean close together and whisper. Elizabeth felt her face grow warm, and she could see Harry glaring after them.

"It doesn't matter what they think, Harry," Elizabeth whispered, even though her face was still red from embarrassment, "Let's just enjoy ourselves."

She knew there wouldn't be any way to hide the fact that she was now dating Harry, but she still didn't like the stares that were coming along with it. She already had a feeling her brother was going to corner her at some point over this. But right now, she didn't really care. She should just enjoy the day.

"The ice cream shop should be right up here," Elizabeth said, "I've heard a lot about it, but never really been there."

"I haven't either," Harry said, pausing for a moment, "Honestly, I don't think I've ever had a day where I can just fully explore. Something's always happened."

"And we had that meeting interrupt this time," Elizabeth gave a small laugh, "But we have the rest of the day."

Harry grinned at that. They made their way to the ice cream shop that Elizabeth had mentioned. The two got a couple of hot-fudge sundaes covered in walnuts, and found a secluded table towards a back corner of the little shop. It'd be nice to get some time alone, hopefully away from some prying eyes.

"Is it just me," Harry said, swirling the fudge into his ice cream, "Or is just sitting here a bit...weird?"

Elizabeth giggled a bit, grinning at Harry.

"We've been through a lot, especially just in the past month," she noted, "O.W.L. year is very stressful, we have a lot of work piling up. Plus, we're in different Houses and you have Quidditch practice. We haven't gotten any time together since the term started. How is Quidditch going, anyway?"

"Good," Harry said simply. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed. "Ron's getting better, I'm sure once we have the first game he'll get over his nerves."

"I'm sure he will," Elizabeth spooned a huge bit of ice cream into her mouth.

"What about you?" Harry asked, "You're pretty good on a broom, why haven't you ever tried out for Quidditch?"

"Because I love the game, but I don't really think I want to play. Besides, don't to realize if I ever did, we'd have to face each other in a game?"

"Oh, yeah..." Harry gave an awkward laugh.

It was fun for Elizabeth, sitting in the little ice cream shop and talk about Quidditch while they enjoyed their sundaes. They could just be normal for a while. Forget about Umbridge at Hogwarts, about the war brewing and people so determined to ignore it. They were just a couple of teens enjoying a day out—on Elizabeth's birthday, at that. Somehow, that made the day sweeter.

She kept finding herself playing with the bracelet Harry gave her, with the little silver mouse on it. It was such a sweet, thoughtful thing. She noticed Harry watching her play with the bracelet while they walked along the street and she grinned at him, taking his hand.

"I really do like it," she said, "Maybe you were right. Having a mouse patronus isn't so bad." Elizabeth giggled a bit. "If anything, it'll make a good toy for Cream."

Harry snorted at that. Elizabeth grinned. At least she could still get a smile out of him. He was always so grim lately.

"Why don't we go to the post office?" Harry suggested, "I could get Hedwig some more treats. She's still mad at me."

Elizabeth nodded. The two of them spent the morning enjoying time together, just window shopping, or buying each other sweets at Honeydukes. Never once did they talk about Voldemort or Umbridge, or their O.W.L. years. Instead, they simply talked about Quidditch, or Elizabeth asked Harry about the Muggle world, and how much of it held up to what she was being taught in Muggle Studies. Eventually, as they were exploring a second-hand shop, Elizabeth started to talk about Muggle activities she'd learned about and were interested in trying.

"We've been learning about Muggle hobbies lately," Elizabeth was saying as she picked up a dusty bottle filled with some type of potion that the tag that was barely legible, "There's this one thing that sounds really interesting. Do Muggles really have these things called 'skates', that are these wheels on the bottom of their shoes?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, "I've seen people use them in the park."

"Reading about it, it seems like it would be a lot of fun."

"I wouldn't know."

Harry had a bit of a frown on his face, examining an old Sneakoscope. Elizabeth stared at him. She knew the Dursleys kept Harry away from anything normal Muggles would have. Elizabeth had read that hundreds of thousands of Muggles used roller skates around the world, and the fact that Harry, living in a Muggle world, had never even done that...

"We should do it sometime," Elizabeth turned fully to Harry, "Together."

"What?" Harry nearly dropped the Sneakoscope, but he caught himself and put it back on the shelf and looked at Elizabeth.

"Roller skating. Wait, not just that," Elizabeth was suddenly struck with an idea. "How about this? One day, we go out and do Muggle things we'd both like to do. Like roller skating."

Harry was giving Elizabeth a look as if he thought she was joking, but Elizabeth was honestly being serious. Harry had grown up in a home that didn't let him do many things he might have wanted to, and Elizabeth grew up in a wizarding home. Muggle Studies was teaching her a lot of things about Muggles that she found fascinating. She'd like to explore that stuff with Harry.

"Just think about it, okay?" Elizabeth asked, "I mean, it's not something we can do anytime soon, but maybe during the summer sometime."

"Yeah, okay, I'll think about it," Harry replied, giving Elizabeth a bit of a smile. She smiled back and leaded over, kissing Harry on the cheek.

"Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth felt her chest tighten as she tensed, turning to see Lewis had just come into the store. And he was glaring at her, his arms over his chest. Elizabeth knew she wasn't going to be hiding the fact she was with Harry, and she honestly didn't want to. But she at least wanted to try and explain things to Lewis himself—not that he'd ever talked to her.

"What are you doing with him?" Lewis asked, a sharp glare directed at Harry. His response was to return the glare with one of his own. Elizabeth, knowing Harry had a short temper lately, had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

"Well, I—" Elizabeth started, but Lewis cut her off.

"Actually, I'm sure I can guess what you're doing," he said sharply, "What I should really be asking is what the bloody hell is wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with her!" Harry's voice rose, and Elizabeth felt her face flushing as she put a hand on his arm, afraid he'd attack her brother.

"I'm trying to enjoy my birthday with my boyfriend," Elizabeth told Lewis, emphasizing the words, "I know you suddenly don't like Harry, but he's my best friend, and I care about him a lot, and I'm going to enjoy my date."

Lewis looked furious, stepping forward. So did Harry, putting himself between Elizabeth and her brother. Elizabeth kept her hand gripped on Harry's arm.

"Elizabeth, I've put up with you still staying around this nutcase, but dating him is—"

"Is my choice!" Elizabeth snapped, gripping Harry's arm tighter as he went tense and looked as if he were about to say something, "If you can't accept that, it's your problem! Come on, Harry, I suddenly don't feel like shopping here anymore."

"Same here," Harry headed out of the shop and Elizabeth went to follow, but Lewis caught her arm.

"You really need to watch yourself," he said, "Potter's unstable, and I don't want you hurt—"

"I am completely capable of taking care of myself," Elizabeth snapped, pushing her brother's hand away before heading out of the shop.

She'd been trying to put on a tough face in front of Lewis, but the second she was out of the shop, Elizabeth was shaking. She could feel her insides churning from nerves and the second they came across an alley out of sight from the streets, Elizabeth ducked in and sunk to the ground. She hid her face in her hands, her glasses going askew, her breathing becoming a little short. She could feel the sting of tears at the edge of her eyes.

Elizabeth felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Harry was now squatting next to her, a concerned look on his face. Elizabeth straightened her glasses and forced herself to give Harry a small grin.

"I'm okay," she said, "Just...I wasn't expecting to have to deal with this today, you know?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, "Why don't we just go back up to the castle?"

"Good idea," Elizabeth said, letting Harry help her to her feet, keeping her hand around his. She was still shaking a bit, and still felt the sting of tears, but she didn't feel as if she were going to break down any second.

And it was nice, just getting to walk along the street with Harry. They still had people staring—and at one point, Elizabeth was keenly aware of Cho Chang suddenly pretending to be very interested in a store sign when she caught Elizabeth's eye. While they were walking, however, Elizabeth could see how tense Harry was, how the way his nose scrunched slightly like it did when he was worrying over something.

"Harry, it's okay, I promise," Elizabeth said, bumping her arm against his, "My brother is just..." Elizabeth paused, sighing, "Honestly, I don't really know...I mean, Cedric was his best friend, and I guess he just doesn't want to believe what happened."

"So he's buying the story that his best friend just dropped dead?"

"I think he finds that easier than accepting You-Know-Who is back."

Elizabeth and Harry turned to see Susan coming up behind them, a sheepish grin on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said, falling into step beside Elizabeth, "I know you haven't been able to talk to him much lately, Elizabeth, but Lewis is just as scared as the rest of us. I think he thinks it's easier to believe that Professor Dumbledore is old and neglectful than to believe You-Know-Who came back and killed Cedric himself."

"So he's perfectly fine believing Dumbledore's responsible for Cedric's death?" Harry snapped. Elizabeth squeezed his hand, glancing at him. She didn't want Susan getting angry with her over Harry's temper.

"He's just in denial," Elizabeth said with a sigh, then turned to Susan, "Are you okay, though? I...Well, you and Lewis..."

"We broke up," Susan said quietly, frowning as she stared down at the dirt path while they walked, "He...He got fed up with me always defending Harry..."

Harry suddenly looked sheepish and looked away, and Elizabeth gave his hand a small squeeze.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said, looking to Susan again, "Maybe things will get better? I mean, if this is the only problem..."

"You say that like it's a small thing," Susan snorted, "But don't worry." Susan gave Elizabeth a grin. "I'm not going to let it get me down. Besides, you are right. There could be a miracle and Lewis will get his head on straight soon."

Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle a bit, and even Harry cracked a smile. The three turned their conversation towards Quidditch as they made their way on towards Hogwarts. Elizabeth couldn't really tell if she could count the day as good or not. There had been several good spots, yes, but there had been just as many lows, with her encounter with Lewis and Susan's news. All Elizabeth could do was hope that that the days to come would be better.