Part 16
"This chapter ought to be interesting," Arthur said. "The title is 'Felix Felicis'. Wasn't it the potion that you won, Harry, for your fantastic Potion making?" Harry nodded, smirking at the indignant look on Snape's face.
Molly giggled. "Are you going to use it already?" Her voice held an eager tone. Harry gave a non committal shrug and indicated the book. Arthur took the cue and started reading.
Chapter 14: Felix Felicis
Harry had Herbology first thing the following morning. He had been unable to tell Ron and Hermione about his lesson with Dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but he filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses.
The weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse.
"We used that excuse every so often to plan our pranks," James said, grinning widely.
Remus smirked, "At least before Peter messed up the situation by using this excuse in summer." Laughter went around the room, though the smile on the Trio's faces was a little strained.
"Wow, scary thought, the boy You-Know-Who," said Ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled Snargaluff stumps that formed this terms project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. "But I still don't get why Dumbledore's showing you all this. I mean, it's really interesting and everything, but what's the point?"
"Fair question," Snape murmured, glancing at Dumbledore, who eyes showed a mixture of doubts and understanding.
"Dunno," said Harry, inserting a gum shield. "But he says it's all important and it'll help me survive."
"I think it's fascinating," said Hermione earnestly. "It makes absolute sense to know as much about Voldemort as possible. How else will you find out his weaknesses?"
"Obviously," Harry muttered and smirked at Hermione. "Research does hold its fascination for Mione." Hermione shot a dirty look at him.
Remus chuckled. "Spoken like Prong's son." Lily grimaced at this.
"So how was Slughorn's latest party?" Harry asked her thickly through the gum shield.
"Oh, it was quite fun, really," said Hermione, now putting on protective goggles. "I mean, he drones on about famous exploits a bit, and he absolutely fawns on McLaggen because he's so well connected, but he gave us some really nice food and he introduced us to Gwenog Jones."
"Gwenog Jones?" said Ron, his eyes widening under his own goggles. "The Gwenog Jones? Captain of the Holyhead Harpies?"
"You really liked meeting those so-called celebrities?" Snape asked looking at Hermione incredulously. "They are just…so full of themselves."
Hermione smiled awkwardly. "That's precisely what I felt…and said, Prof…sorry…Severus. But, you can't deny that it is fun, at times, to get to know them."
Lily nodded. "You are right. And some of them are quite alright. At least compared to some people we know." She glared at James and Sirius.
"That's right," said Hermione. "Personally, I thought she was a bit full of herself, but —"
"Quite enough chat over here!" said Professor Sprout briskly, bustling over and looking stern. "You're lagging behind, everybody else has started, and Neville's already got his first pod!"
"He's brilliant at Herbology," Ron commented in a matter-of-fact tone. Alice wiped a stray tear that had made down her cheek. Any mention of her son always brought back the horrors in store in their future. If things don't change. And the impact it had on her child. Lily patted her friend on her arm soothingly.
They looked around; sure enough, there sat Neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.
"Okay, Professor, we're starting now!" said Ron, adding quietly, when she had turned away again, "should've used Muffliato, Harry."
"No, we shouldn't!" said Hermione at once, looking, as she always did, intensely cross at the thought of the Half-Blood Prince and his spells. "Well, come on ... we'd better get going. ..."
She gave the other two an apprehensive look; they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them.
"They are rather horrible," James said, his voice shaking a little. "They introduce all sorts of sick plants in Sixth year."
Alice frowned a little, "They are not really all that bad. Not if you know how to handle them."
"Actually they are quite easy, once you manage to master things," Molly said. "Easier than most classes, in fact."
It sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramblelike vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. One tangled itself in Hermione's hair, and Ron beat it back with a pair of secateurs; Harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentacle like branches; Hermione plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; Harry and Ron tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again, and Hermione snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like Neville's. At once, the prickly vines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.
"Wow," Arthur said looking up from the book and grinning. "Not many could do this their first while."
Harry returned the grin. "Well, Hermione might have killed us if we hadn't managed to do it. It is better to be killed by a plant in comparison." At Hermione's glare he murmured something that sounded suspiciously like 'Birds'. Both Hermione and Ron turned a bright shade of red, while the others looked questioningly at Harry.
"Just wait for some more time. I am quite sure you will get to know," he said grinning evilly at his friends.
"You know, I don't think I'll be having any of these in my garden when I've got my own place," said Ron, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead and wiping sweat from his face.
"Now I know what to get you for next Christmas," Harry said. "Can't believe I forgot about that."
"Ha Ha," Ron said sarcastically making a face at his best friend.
"Pass me a bowl," said Hermione, holding the pulsating pod at arm's length; Harry handed one over and she dropped the pod into it with a look of disgust on her face.
"Don't be squeamish, squeeze it out, they're best when they're fresh!" called Professor Sprout.
"Anyway," said Hermione, continuing their interrupted conversation as though a lump of wood had not just attacked them, "Slughorn's going to have a Christmas party, Harry, and there's no way you'll be able to wriggle out of this one because he actually asked me to check your free evenings, so he could be sure to have it on a night you can come."
"Someone's desperate," James said, rolling his eyes. "And you would think, he might leave my son alone."
"He is my son too," Lily pointed out in a bored voice.
"Point taken, Ma'am," James said faking a bow in Lily's direction. Lily struck out her tongue at him.
Harry groaned. Meanwhile, Ron, who was attempting to burst the pod in the bowl by putting both hands on it, standing up, and squashing it as hard as he could, said angrily, "And this is another party just for Slughorn's favorites, is it?"
"Uh oh," Lily murmured, sneaking a glance at Ron's direction.
"Just for the Slug Club, yes," said Hermione.
The pod flew out from under Ron's fingers and hit the green house glass, rebounding onto the back of Professor Sprout's head and knocking off her old, patched hat. Harry went to retrieve the pod;
when he got back, Hermione was saying, "Look, I didn't make up the name 'Slug Club' —"
"That was Horace's idea," Dumbledore put in. 'Apparently given by some student."
Minerva snorted. "He must have loved it." Harry was surprised to note that the tone was sarcastic. Apparently, the relations between his teachers were more troubled than what met the eye."
"Slug Club,'" repeated Ron with a sneer worthy of Malfoy. "It's pathetic. Well, I hope you enjoy your party. Why don't you try hooking up with McLaggen, then Slughorn can make you King and Queen Slug —"
The Marauders evidently found this to be funny and burst into laughter.
Though the looks on Ron's and Hermione's faces cut them off soon enough.
"Ouch," Sirius remarked, smirking. "Must have touched a nerve there. Did he actually crown you…." Whatever he was about to say was lost, as a
perfectly aimed Binding spell hit him squarely on the face and he toppled off his seat. There was a shocked silence in the room before almost everybody burst out laughing.
"Sorry," Hermione squeaked, flushing red and took the spell off Sirius. He spared a wary look at Hermione before scooting to another armchair away from Hermione. This set off the others again. Harry and Ron had teary eyes from laughing so much. Arthur managed to compose himself a little and started reading, though traces of laughter could still be detected in the room.
"We're allowed to bring guests," said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, "and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then I won't bother!"
"Wow," Lily said, but couldn't help smirking a bit. These two did have the weirdest of relationships. Even though they are the best of friends.
Harry suddenly wished the pod had flown a little farther, so that he need not have been sitting here with the pair of them. Unnoticed by either, he seized the bowl that contained the pod and began to try and open it by the noisiest and most energetic means he could think of; unfortunately, he could still hear every word of their conversation.
Ron grinned at Harry apologetically. "We did put you in an uncomfortable position, didn't we? Must have been irritating for you."
"This was still better," Harry murmured. "Compared to all the fights between the two of you that I had to endure. This was definitely way better."
"You were going to ask me?" asked Ron, in a completely different voice.
"Yes," said Hermione angrily. "But obviously if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen ..."
"As if…" Ron muttered, glaring mildly at Hermione. This earned quite a lot to snickering from both Sirius and James, who were soon joined in by Frank.
There was a pause while Harry continued to pound the resilient pod with a trowel.
"No, I wouldn't," said Ron, in a very quiet voice.
Harry missed the pod, hit the bowl, and shattered it.
"He is worse than his father," Lily moaned, looking wildly at Harry. "He has got even worse timing." Harry looked a little affronted.
"Not my fault, that my friends tended to forget, at times, that I existed between them," Harry muttered. Sirius patted his arm sympathetically.
"Reparo,"' he said hastily, poking the pieces with his wand, and the bowl sprang back together again. The crash, however, appeared to have awoken Ron and Hermione to Harry's presence. Hermione looked flustered and immediately started fussing about for her copy of "Flesh-Eating Trees of the World" to find out the correct way to juice Snargaluff pods; Ron, on the other hand, looked sheepish but also rather pleased with himself.
"Obviously," Molly murmured, looking fondly at her son. Ron looked distinctly uncomfortable. He had an idea, that the events to come would not please his mother a lot. Hermione took his hand and squeezed it lightly. She had a fair idea, about what was bothering Ron. Ron looked at her with gratefulness evident in his eyes.
"Hand that over, Harry," said Hermione hurriedly. "It says we're supposed to puncture them with something sharp. . . ."
Harry passed her the pod in the bowl; he and Ron both snapped their goggles back over their eyes and dived, once more, for the stump. It was not as though he was really surprised, thought Harry, as he wrestled with a thorny vine intent upon throttling him; he had had an inkling that this might happen sooner or later. But he was not sure how he felt about it. ...
Hermione looked at Harry concernedly. "We never did ask you, did we, if you were okay with the entire thing?"
Harry started to interrupt, but Ron cut him off. "No. Mione's right. We should have. Sorry, mate. We always managed to drag you in our mess." Harry nodded slightly, his face turning a little red.
"Yes. It can be rather uncomfortable," Minerva said. "Especially in a group of three."
He and Cho were now too embarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk to each other; what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in the third year; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn't split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excruciatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?
Lily looked at her son worriedly. He was much too insecure for his own good.
Harry caught the look and smile slightly.
"I know I sound like an insecure fool," he said, chuckling lightly. "But, my friends were my family. And the Weasleys obviously." He nodded once at Arthur and Molly. "And, these two did spend too much time arguing. Though thankfully, they seem to have grown up, now." Hermione swatted him on the arm.
"Gotcha!" yelled Ron, pulling a second pod from the stump just as Hermione managed to burst the first one open, so that the bowl was full of tubers wriggling like pale green worms.
The rest of the lesson passed without further mention of Slughorn's party. Although Harry watched his two friends more closely over the next few days, Ron and Hermione did not seem any different except that they were a little politer to each other than usual. Harry
supposed he would just have to wait to see what happened under the influence of butterbeer in Slughorn's dimly lit room on the night of the party.
"You have quite an imagination, Godson," Sirius said, sniggering. "SO, what did happen?" Harry shot a furious glare at his godfather, and motioned for Arthur to continue reading.
In the meantime, however, he had more pressing worries.
Katie Bell was still in St. Mungo's Hospital with no prospect of leaving, which meant that the promising Gryffindor team Harry had been training so carefully since September was one Chaser short. He kept putting off replacing Katie in the hope that she would return, but their opening match against Slytherin was looming, and he finally had to accept that she would not be back in time to play.
"That's bad," James muttered. "It is a pain to hold those tryouts more than once, anyways."
"Yup," Frank agreed. "Even once is a pain enough, let alone holding them twice."
Harry did not think he could stand another full-House tryout. With a sinking feeling that had little to do with Quidditch, he cornered Dean Thomas after Transfiguration one day. Most of the class had already left, although several twittering yellow birds were still zooming around the room, all of Hermione's creation; nobody else had succeeded in conjuring so much as a feather from thin air.
"Those bloody birds," Ron muttered under his breath.
"Language, Ron!" Hermione admonished lightly. Her voice lacked the usual conviction. Minerva however shot a stern look at Ron, who cringed lightly. It seemed that she had caught the almost whispered comment.
"Are you still interested in playing Chaser?"
"Wha —? Yeah, of course!" said Dean excitedly. Over Dean's shoulder, Harry saw Seamus Finnegan slamming his books into his bag, looking sour. One of the reasons why Harry would have preferred not to have to ask Dean to play was that he knew Seamus would not like it. On the other hand, he had to do what was best for the team, and Dean had out flown Seamus at the tryouts.
"Then it's fair enough," Snape mused. "He did have his chance to prove himself."
Harry shrugged. "He didn't think so, apparently. Maybe I should have just held the tryouts again. Anyways doesn't matter now."
"Well then, you're in," said Harry. "There's a practice tonight, seven o'clock."
"Right," said Dean. "Cheers, Harry! Blimey, I can't wait to tell Ginny!"
He sprinted out of the room, leaving Harry and Seamus alone together, an uncomfortable moment made no easier when a bird dropping landed on Seamus's head as one of Hermione's canaries whizzed over them.
"What a situation," Molly said, grinning. "Things couldn't get any more better."
"Oh yes, it can," Ron snapped. "Just wait and see…umm…hear."
Seamus was not the only person disgruntled by the choice of Katie's substitute. There was much muttering in the common room about the fact that Harry had now chosen two of his class-mates for the team. As Harry had endured much worse mutterings than this in his school career, he was not particularly bothered, but all the same, the pressure was increasing to provide a win in the upcoming match against Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, Harry knew that the whole House would forget that they had criticized him and swear that they had always known it was a great team. If they lost. . . well, Harry thought wryly, he had still endured worse mutterings. . . .
"He does look at the brighter side of things, doesn't he?" James asked Sirius, sarcastically. Harry rolled his eyes at his father.
Hermione interrupted them. "Not his fault. Harry did have to endure worse mutterings. Something about Quidditch could be nothing compared to those."
"Wow. I take my words back then. At least my tone," James said. "My son actually is looking at the brighter side of things."
Harry had no reason to regret his choice once he saw Dean fly that evening; he worked well with Ginny and Demelza. The Beaters, Peakes and Coote, were getting better all the time. The only problem was Ron.
Harry had known all along that Ron was an inconsistent player who suffered from nerves and a lack of confidence, and unfortunately, the looming prospect of the opening game of the season seemed to have brought out all his old insecurities.
"You aren't a bad player," Remus said. "Then why do you get all nervous?" Ron shrugged.
"Dunno, really," he said. "I am always afraid that I would let in goals or something. And the more I actually think of that, the more I manage to really let the goals in. Just a very bad habit, you might say." Hermione put an arm around Ron's shoulders and hugged him lightly. Remus nodded.
"Also, the pressure of having such 'brilliant' brothers also proved to be an aid in this," Harry added. "Ron always thought of trying to play a perfect game, instead of just playing his game."
Molly frowned, a look of concern masking her face. "You felt overshadowed by your brothers?" she questioned, looking at Ron. "Did we…?"
"No," Ron interrupted her. "I was never pressured by you two. It was just me. I managed to mount pressure on myself, if that makes any sense. It was nobody's fault, really." Molly went over and hugged her son tightly. Arthur put an arm around her as she came back and resumed reading.
After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by Ginny, his technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in the mouth.
"It was an ACCIDENT," Ron said hastily at the wild looks from everyone else. "Obviously, I didn't go and punch her deliberately."
"It was an accident, I'm sorry, Demelza, really sorry!" Ron shouted after her as she zigzagged back to the ground, dripping blood everywhere. "I just —"
"Panicked," Ginny said angrily, landing next to Demelza and examining her fat lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"
"Ouch," Alice murmured. "Ginny does seem to be furious."
"But it was an accident…" Ron murmured, a little helplessly.
"I can fix that," said Harry, landing beside the two girls, pointing his wand at Demelza's mouth, and saying "Episkey." "And Ginny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Captain of this team —"
"Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should —"
Laughter filled the room. Even Ron could not help laughing. After all, he did love his kid sister a lot. Though she would be furious if she heard about that 'kid sister'.
"She is brilliant," said a still chortling Sirius. "She is absolutely brilliant."
"That she is," Harry agreed. Both Lily and Remus noticed the slight catch in his tone and shared a grin.
Harry forced himself not to laugh. "In the air, everyone, let's go. . . ."
Overall it was one of the worst practices they had had all term, though Harry did not feel that honesty was the best policy when they were this close to the match.
"You were wrong, Lily," Sirius said. "Harry has got more sense than his dad." James punched Sirius lightly. "James manages to find out faults in a Quidditch practice even when we have a brilliant one. Even on the day before the match." He explained at Lily's puzzled look.
James glared at his best friend. "Like you all ever take it seriously," he growled. "If I don't do that you all will give up practicing altogether. And yes, you do need to practice. Or did you forget last day's practice?" He said, as Sirius showed every sign of interrupting, most obviously, to point out the fact that Sirius Black didn't need to practice.
"Stupid deer," Sirius muttered under his breath, glaring at his friend.
"Good work, everyone, I think we'll flatten Slytherin," he said bracingly, and the Chasers and Beaters left the changing room looking reasonably happy with themselves.
"I played like a sack of dragon dung," said Ron in a hollow voice when the door had swung shut behind Ginny.
"Even worse," Ron said, grinning a bit. "Only Harry was too polite to tell me."
Harry chuckled. "Or maybe a bit too afraid that you might just punch me or something."
"No, you didn't," said Harry firmly. "You're the best Keeper I tried out, Ron. Your only problem is nerves."
He kept up a relentless flow of encouragement all the way back to the castle, and by the time they reached the second floor, Ron was looking marginally more cheerful. When Harry pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower, however, they found themselves looking at Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.
"WHAT?" Arthur shouted as he slammed the book down. "My little girl is actually going about kissing people all over the castle?" Harry looked at Arthur in obvious alarm. If he was so worked up over this, then he, Harry was in great trouble.
Molly patted her boyfriend on the shoulders, obviously hoping to soothe him. Harry could catch whispered words such as 'grown up'…'and should be granted freedom.' Harry had always felt that Mrs. Weasely was more bent on discipline than her husband. But it is obvious that Mr. Weasely is no less protective, especially of his daughter.
The others were watching the entire thing with obvious amusement. After Arthur had managed to cool himself down a little, he started reading. After obviously straightening the book a bit, which had suffered some damage owing to being slammed down.
It was as though something large and scaly erupted into life in Harry's stomach, clawing at his insides: Hot blood seemed to flood his brain, so that all thought was extinguished, replaced by a savage urge to jinx Dean into a jelly. Wrestling with this sudden madness, he heard Ron's voice as though from a great distance away.
"You loved her," Lily said, surprised at the intensity of feelings that her son was showing, even without realizing. Harry turned beet red and averted his eyes. Ron was looking at him rather weirdly.
"I thought that you might have a crush on her or something, but I never thought you loved her," he said, a little weirdly. He turned to look at Hermione, who had a knowing look on her face. "You knew that?" he asked Hermione.
"Harry didn't tell me a thing, but I guessed. It wasn't too difficult, though Harry did try his best to conceal it, mostly because of you," she added.
Alice was looking puzzled. "Why would he want to hide such a thing? Even though, Ginny was with Dean at that time but why not tell your friends?"
"Firstly I wasn't sure, myself," Harry answered, frowning a little. "And I had also seen Ron's reactions to Ginny's boyfriends. And I really did not want my friendship with Ron to be harmed."
"You are an idiot," Ron spoke up. "A total idiot. And you call ME a prat," he huffed. Harry grinned widely and shrugged. By this time, the marauders had burst out into full blown laughter. Though the girls were throwing rather dirty looks at them.
"Oi!"
Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around. "What?" said Ginny. "I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!" "This was a deserted corridor till you came butting in!" said Ginny.
"Fair point," James murmured. "Though she should not have done anything like that," he added hastily noticing Lily's glare. Harry could not help but side with his mother on this one. This particular scene was certainly not one of his favorites.
Dean was looking embarrassed. He gave Harry a shifty grin that Harry did not return, as the newborn monster inside him was roaring for Dean's instant dismissal from the team.
"You didn't do that, I hope?" Minerva questioned, rather sternly. Harry shook his head rather hurriedly.
"Er . . . c'mon, Ginny," said Dean, "let's go back to the common room. ..."
"You go!" said Ginny. "I want a word with my dear brother!" Dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.
"Right," said Ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron —"
"Yeah, it is!" said Ron, just as angrily. "D' you think I want people saying my sister's a —"
"RON!" Molly exclaimed. "That wasn't a very good reason to say something like THIS to your sister. That is a serious accusation."
"Sorry," Ron mumbled, looking a little ashamed. With a pang he recalled that maybe now he would have to use this word a little more than usual.
"A what?" shouted Ginny, drawing her wand. "A what, exactly?"
"He doesn't mean anything, Ginny —" said Harry automatically, though the monster was roaring its approval of Ron's words.
"Oh yes he does!" she said, flaring up at Harry. "Just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our Auntie Muriel —"
"Wow," Snape exclaimed. "Ginny does seem to have inherited the famous Weasley temper…or I should say Molly's temper." Molly blushed lightly at his words.
Harry nodded dolefully. "There is no doubt about that. She is a wildcat if she wants to be."
"All red heads are," James pointed out and the next moment was clutching his arm in pain as Lily had hit out with a hard stinging hex. Sirius and Remus had burst into laughter at their friend's obvious discomfort.
"Shut your mouth!" bellowed Ron, bypassing red and turning maroon.
"No, I will not!" yelled Ginny, beside herself. "I've seen you with Phlegm, hoping she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her,
it's pathetic! If you went out and got a bit of snogging done yourself, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"
Ron's face was a sight to see. Hermione had her arm around him again. She knew that these words were hurting his self esteem a lot. Especially when it was being repeated in a roomful of people including his to-be parents.
Ron had pulled out his wand too; Harry stepped swiftly between them.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched. "Just because I don't do it in public —!"
Ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to push Harry out of the way. "Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow? You — "
A streak of orange light flew under Harry's left arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall.
"Ginny is reacting a lot more than she seriously should have," Alice murmured, looking a little concerned. "She looks hell bent on pushing the entire blame on her brother." Ron shrugged a little.
"Don't be stupid —"
"Harry's snogged Cho Chang!" shouted Ginny, who sounded close to tears now. "And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"
"Oh hell!" Hermione swore, softly. "So that's where all the misunderstanding started. Ron, you dolt, you should've just asked me. There was no real need to take Ginny's words seriously." Hermione rounded fiercely on Ron.
Ron again mumbled a faint "Sorry." Harry was shifting wary glances between the two.
"What misunderstanding?" Frank questioned. The worried looks passed between the Trio were not lost upon the group.
Harry sighed. "You will come to know soon…real soon. And that is something I seriously hope will never happen again."
And with that, she stormed away. Harry quickly let go of Ron; the look on his face was murderous. They both stood there, breathing heavily, until Mrs. Norris, Rich's cat, appeared around the corner, which broke the tension.
Harry chuckled. "For a moment, I did think he would hex me or something."
"I wanted to," Ron said. "Though I am rather glad that I didn't. Hexing the 'Boy who lived' wouldn't have done much to my repute." This broke the tension the tension in the room, as chuckles were heard from all around. Hermione was the only one who remained intensely harsh. Ron looked rather dejected at this.
"C'mon," said Harry, as the sound of Filch's shuffling feet reached their ears.
They hurried up the stairs and along a seventh-floor corridor. "Oi, out of the way!" Ron barked at a small girl who jumped in fright and dropped a bottle of toadspawn.
Harry hardly noticed the sound of shattering glass; he felt disoriented, dizzy; being struck by a lightning bolt must be something like this. It's just because she's Ron's sister, he told himself. You just didn't like seeing her kissing Dean because she's Ron's sister. . . .
"Chanting that won't change facts, son," James said, smiling. "It didn't work for me." He stole a sly glance at Lily, who blushed.
"And what did you chant about, Mr. Potter?" Minerva asked, frowning in confusion. "Ms. Evans does not have a brother."
"Oh! Just that 'I love Lily Evans because she is the only red headed girl in class.' It didn't work. I loved her regardless of the color of her hair," James answered. The Potters always had red haired girls as wives. Lily managed to blush a tad more before leaning over and kissing James lightly on the cheek. Sirius whistled loudly and catcalled till Remus whacked him on the head, silencing him.
But unbidden into his mind came an image of that same deserted corridor with himself kissing Ginny instead. . . . The monster in his
chest purred . . . but then he saw Ron ripping open the tapestry curtain and drawing his wand on Harry, shouting things like "betrayal of trust" . . . "supposed to be my friend" . . .
"That's why it took you so long?" Ron questioned in a low voice. "You were afraid that I might disapprove? You could have asked me."
Hermione snapped, "He is your friend. Can't expect any better from him." Harry rolled his eyes at his bickering friends before turning his concentration at Arthur's reading.
"D'you think Hermione did snog Krum?" Ron asked abruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady. Harry gave a guilty start and wrenched his imagination away from a corridor in which no Ron intruded, in which he and Ginny were quite alone —
"What?" he said confusedly. "Oh ... er ..." The honest answer was "yes," but he did not want to give it. However, Ron seemed to gather the worst from the look on Harry's face.
Hermione glared fiercely at Harry and did not comment. Harry gave an apologetic smile.
"Dilligrout," he said darkly to the Fat Lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.
Neither of them mentioned Ginny or Hermione again; indeed, they barely spoke to each other that evening and got into bed in silence, each absorbed in his own thoughts, Harry lay awake for a long time, looking up at the canopy of his four-poster and trying to convince himself that his feelings for Ginny were entirely elder-brotherly. They had lived, had they not, like brother and sister all summer, playing Quidditch, teasing Ron, and having a laugh about Bill and Phlegm? He had known Ginny for years now. ... It was natural that he should feel protective . . . natural that he should want to look out for her . . . want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her... No ... he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling. . . .
"At least you tried to make your intentions noble," Remus said glancing at James. "Unlike some."
James pouted, rather childishly. "Some friend you are," he said in a hurt tone, which Remus conveniently chose to ignore.
Ron gave a great grunting snore.
She's Ron's sister, Harry told himself firmly. Ron's sister. She's out-of-bounds. He would not risk his friendship with Ron for anything. He punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape and waited for sleep to come, trying his utmost not to allow his thoughts to stray anywhere near Ginny.
Harry awoke next morning feeling slightly dazed and confused by a series of dreams in which Ron had chased him with a Beater's bat, but by midday he would have happily exchanged the dream Ron for the real one, who was not only cold-shouldering Ginny and Dean, but also treating a hurt and bewildered Hermione with an icy, sneering indifference.
"That did hurt, you know," Hermione lashed out at Ron. "Without even knowing what and if I did anything wrong."
"I did say Sorry," Ron snapped back. "And I mean it. I really am sorry. There is nothing more that I could seriously do." Hermione huffed and turned away.
What was more, Ron seemed to have become, overnight, as touchy and ready to lash out as the average Blast-Ended Skrewt. Harry spent the day attempting to keep the peace between Ron and Hermione with no success; finally, Hermione departed for bed in high dudgeon, and Ron stalked off to the boys' dormitory after swearing angrily at several frightened first years for looking at him.
To Harry's dismay, Ron's new aggression did not wear off over the next few days. Worse still, it coincided with an even deeper dip in his Keeping skills, which made him still more aggressive, so that during the final Quidditch practice before Saturdays match, he failed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced Demelza Robins to tears.
"I apologized, I said sorry," Ron said hastily at the accusatory looks, aimed at him, again. Though, it did not include one from Hermione, Ron noted with relief.
"You shut up and leave her alone!" shouted Peakes, who was about two-thirds Ron's height, though admittedly carrying a heavy bat.
"He did look a little scary," Ron confessed. "At least his bat did."
The others broke out into peals of laughter at this. Even Hermione managed a grudging smile. It was tough to think that Ron was afraid of Peakes, who looked rather like a midget in comparison.
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron's direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex soared over to intervene before things got out of hand.
"Peakes, go and pack up the Bludgers. Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really well today, Ron . . ." he waited until the rest of the team were out of earshot before saying it, "you're my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I'm going to kick you off the team."
"He was being an idiot," Harry said.
Molly tutted. "That didn't really need any explanation, Harry. He was. No doubt about that." Ron made a dirty face at Harry.
He really thought for a moment that Ron might hit him, but then something much worse happened: Ron seemed to sag on his broom. All the fight went out of him and he said, "I resign. I'm pathetic."
"Only your nerves," Hermione said sarcastically. "And obviously your doings at that time." She added as an afterthought.
"You're not pathetic and you're not resigning!" said Harry fiercely, seizing Ron by the front of his robes. "You can save anything when you're on form, it's a mental problem you've got!"
"You calling me mental?"
"Yeah, maybe I am!"
They glared at each other for a moment, then Ron shook his head wearily. "I know you haven't got any time to find another Keeper, so I'll play tomorrow, but if we lose, and we will, I'm taking myself off the team."
Nothing Harry said made any difference. He tried boosting Ron's confidence all through dinner, but Ron was too busy being grumpy and surly with Hermione to notice. Harry persisted in the common room that evening, but his assertion that the whole team would be
devastated if Ron left was somewhat undermined by the fact that the rest of the team was sitting in a huddle in a distant corner, clearly muttering about Ron and casting him nasty looks. Finally Harry tried getting angry again in the hope of provoking Ron into a defiant, and hopefully goal-saving, attitude, but this strategy did not appear to work any better than encouragement; Ron went to bed as dejected and hopeless as ever.
"Just for a game?" Lily questioned unbelievingly. "You just can't show so many emotions just for a game."
Remus shook his head, apparently amused while James and Sirius were gaping disbelievingly at her. "You are saying this, because you never saw James during a practice. Harry would certainly dwarf in comparison. And Ron's nerves are nowhere as bad as Sirius's are the night before any match. He just masks it better." It was Sirius's turn to be pelted by stares, including a most surprised…or rather shocked one coming from his godson.
He dealt a nasty glare at Remus for shattering his 'cool' image, after noticing a smirking Snape, who seemed rather pleased at this knowledge.
Harry lay awake for a very long time in the darkness. He did not want to lose the upcoming match; not only was it his first as Captain, but he was determined to beat Draco Malfoy at Quidditch even if he could not yet prove his suspicions about him. Yet if Ron played as he had done in the last few practices, their chances of winning were very slim. . . . If only there was something he could do to make Ron pull himself together . . . make him play at the top of his form . . . something that would ensure that Ron had a really good day. . . .
And the answer came to Harry in one, sudden, glorious stroke of inspiration.
Breakfast was the usual excitable affair next morning; the Slytherins hissed and booed loudly as every member of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall. Harry glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear, pale blue sky: a good omen.
"Even Prongsie does that," Sirius murmured. "It seems you inherited his goofy genes too," he said, looking at Harry.
"It is way better to check for good omens rather than losing you head before the match, Mr. Black," Minerva pointed out. Sirius's face fell again and
glaring at Remus he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'betrayer'. Remus grinned back in reply.
The Gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold, cheered as Harry and Ron approached. Harry grinned and waved; Ron grimaced weakly and shook his head.
"Cheer up, Ron!" called Lavender. "I know you'll be brilliant!" Ron ignored her.
"For once," Hermione muttered, something of a smile forming on her face.
Ron groaned at the thoughts of future events.
"Tea?" Harry asked him. "Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"
"Anything," said Ron glumly, taking a moody bite of toast.
A few minutes later, Hermione, who had become so tired of Ron's recent unpleasant behavior that she had not come down to breakfast with them, paused on her way up the table.
"How are you both feeling?" she asked tentatively, her eyes on the back of Ron's head.
"Sorry 'bout those days, Mione," Ron remarked, somewhat tiredly. Hermione took his hand and squeezed lightly. Harry smirked lightly at the behaviors of his friends. The 'Lavender Brown' incident was still a somewhat unsolved and ignored issue between them. One which could no longer be ignored now.
Harry, for one, would be really happy if their friendship came out of this mess unscratched.
"Fine," said Harry, who was concentrating on handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "There you go, Ron. Drink up."
Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply. "Don't drink that, Ron!"
Both Harry and Ron looked up at her.
"Why not?" said Ron.
Hermione was now staring at Harry as though she could not believe her eyes. "You just put something in that drink."
"Did you guess right away?" Harry asked Hermione, chuckling a little.
Hermione grinned back and nodded.
"You gave him the 'Felix Felicis?" Lily questioned her eyes wide as realization struck her. Harry shrugged and pointed at the book in Arthur's hand.
James frowned worriedly. "But it is banned, isn't it? Especially in matches n stuff. You shouldn't…"
"Let Arthur read, Dad," Harry interrupted sharply. "You will get to know soon enough." Almost everybody had disapproving looks on their faces. Harry smiled to himself, imagining their surprise when the truth will come out.
"Excuse me?" said Harry.
"You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, stowing the little bottle hastily in his pocket.
"Ron, I warn you, don't drink it!" Hermione said again, alarmed, but Ron picked up the glass, drained it in one gulp, and said, "Stop bossing me around, Hermione."
She looked scandalized. Bending low so that only Harry could hear her, she hissed, "You should be expelled for that. I'd never have believed it of you, Harry!"
"Nor me," Snape said. "That was positively Slytherin of you." James opened his mouth to interrupt but closed it again. Even he couldn't justify this action. Minerva was also throwing funny looks at him, though a tiny smile was playing around Dumbledore's face.
"Look who's talking," he whispered back. "Confunded anyone lately?"
"Sorry bout that, Hermione," Harry said, grinning widely. "That was a bit low, I guess."
"A bit?" Hermione questioned, her brows raised.
"Guess?" Lily said.
"Alright, alright. It was wrong. But I did have to chase her away," Harry conceded. "And you would get to know later, why." He added suspecting questions.
She stormed up the table away from them. Harry watched her go without regret. Hermione had never really understood what a serious business Quidditch was. He then looked around at Ron, who was smacking his lips. "Nearly time" said Harry blithely.
The frosty grass crunched underfoot as they strode down to the stadium.
"Pretty lucky the weathers this good, eh?" Harry asked Ron.
"Yeah," said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.
"Poor dear," Molly said in a sympathetic voice. Ron blushed a bright red.
Ginny and Demelza were already wearing their Quidditch robes and waiting in the changing room.
"Conditions look ideal," said Ginny, ignoring Ron. "And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey — he took a Bludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he's too sore to play! And even better than that — Malfoy's gone off sick too!"
"Talk about luck," James said, in an awed voice. "The Potion does work, I guess. Though you certainly shouldn't have used it, Harry." He added, noticing a glare from Lily. Harry shrugged casually.
"What?" said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"
"No idea, but it's great for us," said Ginny brightly. "They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot."
"Aren't all Slytherins?" Sirius questioned in a bright voice.
Snape frowned at him. "Obviously not. Slytherins are known to be cunning, not stupid. At least, not all are. Or you would most certainly be in Slytherin, and not me."
Harry smiled back vaguely, but as he pulled on his scarlet robes his mind was far from Quidditch. Malfoy had once before claimed he
could not play due to injury, but on that occasion he had made sure the whole match was rescheduled for a time that suited the Slytherins better. Why was he now happy to let a substitute go on? Was he really ill, or was he faking?
"Fishy, isn't it?" he said in an undertone to Ron. "Malfoy not playing?"
"Lucky, I call it," said Ron, looking slightly more animated. "And Vaisey off too, he's their best goal scorer, I didn't fancy — hey!" he said suddenly, freezing halfway through pulling on his Keepers gloves and staring at Harry.
"He caught on, didn't he?" Arthur questioned, grinning widely. "Took you long enough. Even with Hermione around," he said to Ron. A few chuckles were heard, though nobody was looking very pleased or relaxed. They still could not weave their mind around the fact that Harry is using an illegal product during a match. Harry shared a grin with his friends, while rolling his eyes at the rest of the lot.
"What?"
"I... you . . ." Ron had dropped his voice; he looked both scared and excited. "My drink ... my pumpkin juice ... you didn't...?"
Harry raised his eyebrows, but said nothing except, "We'll be starting in about five minutes; you'd better get your boots on."
They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too:
Amidst all the yelling and clapping Harry could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.
"That was a cool one," Ron said animatedly.
Hermione chuckled. "Well, that's Luna for you. She is a total wonder package. Funny and brave as one."
Harry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate.
"Captains shake hands," she said, and Harry had his hand crushed by the new Slytherin Captain, Urquhart. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle . . . three . . . two . . . one . . ."
The whistle sounded, Harry and the others kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and they were away.
James, Sirius and Frank let out an ear splitting cheer which the others took up too after a moment of glaring. It was quite impossible to remain serious for too long in this room.
Harry soared around the perimeter of the grounds, looking around for the Snitch and keeping one eye on Harper, who was zigzagging far below him.
Then a voice that was jarringly different to the usual commentator's started up.
"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help. . . ."
"Yeah, Yeah," Ron murmured sarcastically. "Also a few drops of Felix."
These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. Harry craned around on his broom to look toward the commentator's podium. A tall, skinny blond buy with an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magical megaphone that had once been Lee Jordan's; Harry recognized Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom he heartily disliked.
"Who didn't?" Ron questioned, shuddering a bit. Harry glanced slyly at Hermione who stepped down hard on his feet, which had him wincing hard.
"He was a prat?" Remus questioned, obviously curious about Zacharias.
"A complete one," Hermione answered mimicking Ron's shudder with a look of distaste on her face.
"Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, its Urquhart streaking down the pitch and —"
Harry's stomach turned over.
"— Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose. . . ."
"I should have punched the git after the match," Ron said, in a fierce voice. "You should have reminded me, Harry."
"Ya. I sorta forgot. Due to someone hurling accusations at me," Harry answered, smirking at Hermione. The others were watching them banter with evident interest.
"That's right, Smith, he is," muttered Harry, grinning to himself, as he dived amongst the Chasers with his eyes searching all around for some hint of the elusive Snitch.
With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor's six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.
"Idiotic boy," Minerva muttered fiercely. "He is too high and mighty for his own good."
"Absolutely," Alice said, crinkling her nose in obvious distaste.
"Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," said Zacharias loftily, "they've generally got a bit more muscle —"
"And you got too much of that in your head," James commented. "Instead of the brains that should be present."
"Or maybe he's got just plenty of Dungbombs in," Sirius remarked, chuckling.
"Hit a Bludger at him!" Harry called to Coote as he zoomed past, but Coote, grinning broadly, chose to aim the next Bludger at Harper instead, who was just passing Harry in the opposite direction. Harry was pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant the Bludger had found its mark.
It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Again and again they scored, and again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. He was actually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King," he pretended to conduct them from on high.
"And to think, there was a time when I used to detest that song," Ron reminisced back. "I never actually thanked the Slytherins for thinking up that song."
"Thinks he's something special today, doesn't he?" said a snide voice, and Harry was nearly knocked off his broom as Harper collided with him hard and deliberately. "Your blood-traitor pal..." Madam Hooch's back was turned, and though Gryffindors below shouted in anger, by the time she looked around, Harper had already sped off. His shoulder aching, Harry raced after him, determined to ram him back. ...
"That is bad tactics during a match, sonny boy," James remarked, sniggering. "You never ever chase after others during a match; the match might just slip of your hands."
Harry nodded solemnly, though he glared at the 'sonny boy' part, which was highly inappropriate considering that he was actually older than his father.
Lily was directing an amused look at James. "Wow. I never thought I would live to see James doling out advices," she said.
James smirked at her. "It is Quidditch, Lady. Obviously, I would be doling out advice, and loads of them."
"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"
"Told you," James said cheerfully. "But you better win the game, though," he added with a stern note.
"At least, you are serious in something other than trouble making," Minerva remarked, a smile nullifying her stern tone. "Even if it is Quidditch."
Smith really was an idiot, thought Harry, hadn't he noticed them collide? But next moment, his stomach seemed to drop out of the,
sky — Smith was right and Harry was wrong: Harper had not sped upward at random; he had spotted what Harry had not: The Snitch was speeding along high above them, glinting brightly against the clear blue sky.
Harry accelerated; the wind was whistling in his ears so that it drowned all sound of Smith's commentary or the crowd, but Harper was still ahead of him, and Gryffindor was only a hundred points up; if Harper got there first Gryffindor had lost. . . and now Harper was feet from it, his hand outstretched. ...
"Oh no! Oh no!" Sirius was muttering, gnawing at his fingers, much to the apparent disgust of the girls around.
"Oi, Harper!" yelled Harry in desperation. "How much did Malfoy pay you to come on instead of him?"
"That's called tactics, boy," James bellowed, slapping a grinning Harry on the shoulders.
"Isn't it cheating?" Molly queried. "No offense, dear, but you distracted the boy."
TO almost everyone's surprise, it was Dumbledore who answered. "Not really, Ms. Prewett. It is not cheating. If the student reacted to Harry's words, then it is his fault. Only physically causing harm or stopping someone, would be termed as cheating. Not otherwise."
"I did play Quidditch when I was in school, Mr. Black," he added noticing that Sirius was unashamedly gawking at him. Sirius had the grace to look ashamed.
He did not know what made him say it, but Harper did a double take; he fumbled the Snitch, let it slip through his fingers, and shot right past it. Harry made a great swipe for the tiny, fluttering ball and caught it.
The Gryffindors let out a loud cheer and applauded Harry and Ron. Even Snape managed a small grin. Though from Minerva and Lily's faces it was evident that they would have been happier if they knew that Harry was not guilty of administering the Felix.
"YES!" Hairy yelled. Wheeling around, he hurtled back toward the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what
had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game.
"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who had found himself trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentators podium.
"Ouch," Molly said, wincing a bit. Roars of laughter had broken out in the room once again. Both Harry and Ron who had been present during the incident were doubled over with laughter at the mental image. The others had also managed to conjure up significant mental images and were laughing themselves silly.
It was quite a while before Arthur could resume reading.
As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring,: Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, "Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."
"No, she didn't," Harry said, still chuckling. "She did it on purpose."
"I love that girl," James almost shrieked, and blushed crimson the next moment as Lily and Harry looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I mean as a fellow prankster," he managed to mumble, over the renewed shrieks of laughter, this time directed at him. Arthur managed to start reading though a few chuckles still escaped him now and them.
Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go very quickly. Avoiding her gaze, he clapped cheering Ron on the back instead as, all enmity forgotten, the Gryffindor team left the pitch arm in arm, punching the air and waving to their supporters.
The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant. "Party up in the common room, Seamus said!" yelled Dean exuberantly. "C'mon, Ginny, Demelza!"
At this point, Ron snuck a worried glance at Hermione, who seemed to be steeling herself for something, but managed to give him a little smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. Alice noticed this strange interaction between the two and frowned slightly.
Ron and Harry were the last two in the changing room. They were just about to leave when Hermione entered. She was twisting her Gryffindor scarf in her hands and looked upset but determined. "I want a word with you, Harry." She took a deep breath. "You shouldn't have done it. You heard Slughorn, it's illegal."
"She is right, you know," Remus said, a little sternly. His tone reminded Harry about the time when Remus had scolded him for sneaking to Hogsmeade, when the still thought that Sirius was the killer. He smiled slightly at the memory.
"What are you going to do, turn us in?" demanded Ron.
"What are you two talking about?" asked Harry, turning away to hang up his robes so that neither of them would see him grinning,
"You know perfectly well what we're talking about!" said Hermione shrilly. "You spiked Ron's juice with lucky potion at breakfast! Felix Felicis!"
"No, I didn't," said Harry, turning back to face them both.
"You did, Harry," Minerva said, with the same stern voice that Harry had just heard Remus used. "Hermione saw you, remember?"
Harry grinned. "No, I didn't." Something of a look of realization flirted across Snape's face.
"You pretended to, didn't you?" he said in a high pitched voice, unusual of Snape. "But how did your team get all lucky?" Harry shrugged and gestured towards the book.
"Yes you did, Harry, and that's why everything went right, there were Slytherin players missing and Ron saved everything!"
"I didn't put it in!" said Harry, grinning broadly. He slipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and drew out the tiny bottle that Hermione had seen in his hand that morning. It was full of golden potion and the cork was still tightly sealed with wax. "I wanted Ron to think I'd done it, so I faked it when I knew you were looking." He looked at Ron. "You saved everything because you felt lucky. You did it all yourself."
"Whoa," Murmured Sirius. In a flash he was up and hugging Harry fiercely. "You are a true Marauder's heir. A complete genius." Harry gave his Godfather a full fledged grin after Sirius had returned back to his place.
"I am really glad you didn't do anything wrong," Lily said. "But, I am also sorry for thinking that you might do something like that. Even if it was for Quidditch." Harry smiled and nodded at his mother.
He pocketed the potion again.
"There really wasn't anything in my pumpkin juice?" Ron said, astounded. "But the weather's good. . . and Vaisey couldn't play. ... I honestly haven't been given lucky potion?"
Harry shook his head. Ron gaped at him for a moment, then rounded on Hermione, imitating her voice. "'You added Felix Felicis to Ron's juice this morning, that's why he saved everything!' See! I can save goals without help, Hermione!"
"Don't yell at me," Ron said hastily, glancing at his glaring mother. "I know I am being unreasonable, a git, an idiot, but I am sorry. Really really sorry. I know that it is a feeble thing, but I don't know anything better." Molly sighed and nodded at her son, albeit a little glumly.
"I never said you couldn't — Ron, you thought you'd been given it too!"
But Ron had already strode past her out of the door with his broomstick over his shoulder.
"Er," said Harry into the sudden silence; he had not expected his plan to backfire like this, "shall. . . shall we go up to the party, then?"
"You go!" said Hermione, blinking back tears. "I'm sick of Ron at the moment, I don't know what I'm supposed to have done. . . ."
"Poor dear," Alice said, flashing a concerned look towards the book. Ron was sitting rather dejected as he stared interestedly at the carpet.
"Arthur," Harry called out. When Arthur turned to glance at him, he said, "Please can you read the next part without stopping too much, and if possible at all? And please try not to interrupt," he said to the room as whole. He was really concerned about his friends now. And he knew that Ron
was always insecure about Hermione and he really did not want to aggravate the problem. Almost everyone nodded their acceptance, though curiosity was evident in all the faces,
And she stormed out of the changing room too.
Harry walked slowly back up the grounds toward the castle through the crowd, many of whom shouted congratulations at him, but he felt a great sense of letdown; he had been sure that if Ron won the match, he and Hermione would be friends again immediately. He did not see how he could possibly explain to Hermione that what she had done to offend Ron was kiss Viktor Krum, not when the offense had occurred so long ago.
"You should have told me, Harry," Hermione whispered softly to Harry.
Harry nodded once, imitating the same pose as Ron.
Harry could not see Hermione at the Gryffindor celebration party, which was in full swing when he arrived. Renewed cheers and clapping greeted his appearance, and he was soon surrounded by a mob of people congratulating him. What with trying to shake off the Creevey brothers, who wanted a blow-by-blow match analysis, and the large group of girls that encircled him, laughing at his least amusing comments and batting their eyelids, it was some time before he could try and find Ron. At last, he extricated him-self from Romilda Vane, who was hinting heavily that she would like to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with him. As he was ducking toward the drinks table, he walked straight into Ginny, Arnold the Pygmy Puff riding on her shoulder and Crookshanks mewing hopefully at her heels.
"Looking for Ron?" she asked, smirking. "He's over there, the filthy hypocrite."
Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.
"YOU DID WHAT?" Molly shrieked, nearly upsetting the table as she banged hard on it. Ron winced and shifted back on his seat. Arthur scooted away from his girlfriend. "HOW COULD YOU DO IT, RONALD WEASELY? YOU HURT THAT POOR GIRL ON PURPOSE." Ron shrunk even further in his seat, as Molly stopped to breathe. Taking use of the momentary silence, Arthur hurriedly started reading again.
"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it?" said Ginny dispassionately. "But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow. Good game, Harry."
She patted him on the arm; Harry felt a swooping sensation in his stomach, but then she walked off to help herself to more butterbeer. Crookshanks trotted after her, his yellow eyes fixed upon Arnold.
Harry turned away from Ron, who did not look like he would be surfacing soon, just as the portrait hole was closing. With a sinking feeling, he thought he saw a mane of bushy brown hair whipping out of sight.
He darted forward, sidestepped Romilda Vane again, and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside, seemed to be deserted. "Hermione?"
He found her in the first unlocked classroom he tried. She was sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair. Harry could not help admiring her spell-work at a time like this.
"Oh, hello, Harry," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."
"Yeah . . . they're — er — really good. ..." said Harry.
He had no idea what to say to her. He was just wondering whether there was any chance that she had not noticed Ron, that she had merely left the room because the party was a little too rowdy, when she said, in an unnaturally high-pitched voice, "Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations."
"Er . . . does he?" said Harry.
"Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was —?"
"No, I wasn't," Ron said softly. "I wanted to hurt you. Pay you back for having kissed Viktor. I really wasn't thinking." Hermione eyes were seemingly overly bright and Harry had a strong suspicion that she had broken out into tears. Ron hesitated a little before putting his arm around her shoulder, and took it as a good sign that she didn't shrug him off,
instead leaned a bit into the embrace. Seeing them, Molly quit glaring at her son. If Hermione could forgive him, she most certainly can.
The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. "Oh," he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.
"Oops!" said Lavender, and she backed out of the room, giggling.
The door swung shut behind her.
There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, "Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!"
Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system.
"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside," she said quietly. "She'll wonder where you've gone." She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened.
"Oppugno!" came a shriek from the doorway.
Lily, Severus and Remus gasped. Harry put a hand on his mouth to stifle the laughter that was trying to escape him. Though that certainly would have sounded stupid in the room, where even the Marauders were being serious, including the namesake (Sirius)
Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: The little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.
"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.
"That's the end," Arthur pointed out, a little lamely. The air in the room was heavy with silence and with something akin to gloom. The people from the past were glancing uneasily at each while sneaking glances at the Trio.
"It was the worst at nights in the dormitory," Hermione spoke up, albeit in a tiny, strained voice. Everyone, with the exception of Ron shifted their focus on her. "During the day it didn't matter all that much. Harry usually kept me company in the evenings, and I had the homework and revision to attend to. But, it was sheer torture at night to hear Lavender BOASTING about all the…erm…sessions, I guess. She spoke to Parvati, but the words were always at me." She stopped to take a deep breath. "It did grow a little better when Parvati grew tired of all these after a few days. But, those days were seriously, hell. Never in my life did I feel so perilously close to losing a friend, or both of them."
Harry looked up from his stance. "You would have always had me. At least, I hope so. It might sound cheesy but I don't think I would have left my sister alone." Hermione gave him a somewhat watery smile.
"That was rather low of you, Ron," Lily broke her silence and said. "I take it that Hermione might have gone around with this Viktor fellow once, but this is hardly the type of revenge you seek and take."
Hermione sniffed in obvious disdain. "I didn't even go around with him. I just went to the ball with him, as you might know later. And I never kissed him, he kissed me and it really wasn't more than a small peck. And once I had told him not to, he never ever did it again."
"I am disappointed in you, son," Arthur said. "I don't think I expected you to let down your friend so…cruelly."
"Yeah," Ron spoke up, in a somewhat strained voice. "I know that every
single one of all those accusations are true. And I am sorry for all those.
There is seriously nothing better that I can offer. And I know that this won't
be the last instance when I did something wrong, don't interrupt Harry," he
glared at Harry, who turned to glare back at the red headed boy. "I am sorry
I made you cry, Mione. I am sorry I made Harry feel that he might have to
choose between his beast friends; his family. I am sorry I created a gulf so
wide in our friendship, that the crack could even be visible now. I am sorry
that I disappointed my parents…umm…my to-be parents. I am
sorr...umphf…" Ron was cut off at this point as Hermione put her arms
around him and kissed him full on the lips, making him stop his ranting. A
Marauders whistled merrily, even Minerva managed a grudging smile.
"Get a room, guys," Harry moaned. Ron and Hermione broke off blushing wildly. Ron had a goofy smile playing on his face. "Does that mean I am forgiven? Even a bit?"
Hermione nodded at him, grinning fully. "Obviously, you dolt. Wasn't my answer sufficient to convey that?"
Ron glanced at his parents and saw them nod too. Harry felt as if someone had taken off something heavy from his chest. At least he did not have to worry about any friendships breaking off. At least, anytime soon.
"Goodness knows how you girls have so much emotions stored," Sirius said, with a little sneer. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say as he found himself to be the target of at least 6-7 different hexes that gave his body a rather toad like appearance with bright pink hair. After laughing themselves silly over him, the Trio with some help from the professors managed to remove the curses. A pouting Sirius moved away and sat as far away from the girls as possible.
"Thank god, at least you guys sorted things out," Lily said, smiling fondly at the still blushing couple.
"And now it is the time to tell us about your second year," James said. "Hopefully you all will tell me that you had an uneventful, normal year. Or am I hoping too much?"
"From the looks on their face, I think you are expecting too much, James,"
said Dumbledore. "They probably had an even worse year."
Harry colored up a bit. "It wasn't that bad."
"Speak for yourself," Ron murmured. "Oh wait! That couldn't be said, especially for you."
"I had a relatively easy year," Hermione said. Both Ron and Harry stared weirdly at her.
"Well, to start, I wasn't getting any mails during my summer holidays,"
Harry said. "So I thought that my friends had forgotten me."
"We did not," Ron said.
Harry snorted. "I know that NOW. Anyways, on my birthday I found a house elf in my bedroom." On seeing the startled looks around, he confirmed, "Yes, a house elf. In my Uncle's and Aunt's house. To cut long things short, the elf told me to steer clear of Hogwarts that year, saying that I would be in trouble if I attended school. I obviously disagreed, so he conveniently performed a Hovering Charm and magicked a plate of pudding to fall on one
of my Uncle's guests. I was issued a warning by the Ministry of Magic. And my Uncle locked me up in my room."
"And had bars put on the window and had a bloody…sorry…CATFLAP to push his meals in," Ron said, glowering.
"Oh, Petunia!" Lily moaned. Everyone was a little surprised to see Lily not screaming aloud at this information. But then, there is also a limit unto which you can scream at your sister.
"I stayed there for about 3-4 days. I was rescued by Ron, Fred and George in their flying car," Harry said stiffly, awaiting an outburst. Surprisingly there was none. Though the Marauders were staring enviously at him. "We came to the Burrow. The others very obviously got told off by Mrs. Weasely."
"I certainly hope so," Molly said.
Ron grinned and continued. "Harry's first trip by Floo was disastrous as he ended up in Kockturn alley, instead of Diagon alley." He ignored the gasps in the room. "He got out of there okay. I think it was Hagrid who got him. Anyways, in Diagon Alley we found out that Gilderoy Lockhart was to be our new defense teacher."
"THAT IDIOT?" This time it was Snape who had burst out. "He is the most obviously idiotic person anyone could ever apply for the post. What were you thinking about?" He turned to the headmaster, who shrugged rather helplessly.
"Nothing much happened in there. Oh wait! Mr. Weasely got into a fight with Lucius Malfoy and punched him real hard." A general round of delightful laughter went around the room. "When we went to the station to board the train, the gateway sealed itself. We were the last ones."
"The gateway doesn't seal by itself," Minerva said. "That's just surprising. How did you get to Hogwarts?"
"By using a FLYING CAR" Hermione said, exasperatedly. "And on landing in Hogwarts they crashed in the Whomping Willow." Remus winced, slightly.
"You are grounded, Harry potter," Lily screeched.
Harry looked at her with wide eyes. "You can't ground me. Technically, I am not even born."
"Oh yes. I can," Lily said. "You are grounded for the first two summer holidays." Harry assumed the same pouting expression that Sirius had.
"Moving on, we had been to Nick's Death Day party, courtesy of Harry. We saw writing on the walls of the Dungeon, just after Harry said that he was hearing something, that we weren't. It said that the 'Chamber of Secrets had been opened. And we saw that Mrs. Norris had been Petrified." The faces of the people in the room had turned ghostly pale.
"But, I had first heard that same voice when I was doing a detention with Lockhart. By the way, he was the most idiotic anything I had ever seen. Except maybe for Trolls," Harry said. He seemed to be raking his brains for what happened next. "Oh yes! We thought that Heir of Slytherin might be Draco Malfoy. SO Hermione took up the idea of using Polyjuice Potion."
"You managed to make it," Snape questioned Hermione, who nodded. "Impressive."
"We had our Quidditch match, during which an enchanted Bludger chased me," Harry started again. "I managed to catch the snitch; thought the Bludger broke my arm. And Lockhart managed to take out all the bones from it, on the pretext of healing it. At the hospital wing, Dobby visited me at night and I got to know that he was the one who had sealed off the Gateway and had enchanted the Bludger."
"Idiotic Elf," James murmured. Harry's heart deadened a little as he remembered Dobby's fate and his faithfulness.
"He was okay," Ron said. "That very night Harry saw that Colin Creevey, a boy from Gryffindor had been Petrified. Prof. Snape had arranged for a Dueling club. At this club, Malfoy and Harry were pitted against each other. The fact that Harry was a Parseltongue came to light. Quite a lot of people started suspecting him as the Heir of Slytherin. Then there were two more Petrifications. Justin, a muggleborn Hufflepuff. And nearly headless Nick. That Harry was found on the incident site did nothing to ease his image. Hermione's potion worked. WE turned into Crabbe and Goyle but all we found was that Malfoy was not the Heir. Hermione managed to turn herself into a cat, though it wasn't her fault." There was again a bout of Laughter.
"Harry found a diary, someone had flushed off in the girl's toilet where Moaning Myrtle lives and where we were making a potion," Hermione said. "The diary belonged to Tom Riddle, who we didn't know was actually Voldemort's name. That Diary took him back 50 years and showed that Hagrid had opened the chamber the last time."
"Oh yes!" Dumbledore spoke up, his brows furrowing. "But I had my doubts even then, that he had done it. But, he was expelled for that. As a girl had been killed the last time the Chamber opened." Lily whimpered slightly and James put his arm around her, though he himself was not looking very good.
"Hermione was the next one to be petrified along with a Ravenclaw girl," Harry said, taking a quick look at his watch. "Ron and I went to Hagrid's hut to question him, but there we saw the Minister of Magic suspend the Headmaster and cart Hagrid off to Azkaban. We were under the cloak. Hagrid told us to follow the spiders. We did and encountered Aragog, an Acromantula. He told us that the last time the Chamber opened a girl was found dead in the bathroom. We concurred that it must be Myrtle. The other Acromantulas tried to eat us but we managed to escape."
"After that, things happened fast," Ron said. "Harry found a piece of paper clutched tightly in Hermione fist and with a thousand other things we concluded that the creature in the Chamber was a Basilisk."
"Doesn't it kill with its stare?" Alice questioned in a quivering voice.
"It does," Harry confirmed. "But as we were going to report all this to a teacher we overheard that Ginny had been taken to the chamber." Harry shivered slightly and Molly paled. "Lockhart was forced to take over the rescue operation. But when we went to give him our findings we found him trying to escape. We forced him to go down to the Chamber with us. The entrance was in Myrtle's bathroom. I had to use Parseltongue to open it. Down there, Lockhart tried to obliviate us but he was using Ron's wand, which had broken when we crashed in the willow. Forgot to tell that, sorry."
Harry stopped for a breather and Ron continued. "The wand backfired; wiping Lockhart's memory but me and Harry were separated by a pile of rubble. Harry went in alone. He encountered the Tom Riddle of the diary who was apparently a memory and was possessing Ginny and Ginny was the one to open up the chamber. Riddle turned the Basilisk on Harry. Fawkes, Headmaster's Phoenix managed to blind the Basilisk and Harry pulled out a sword from the sorting hat Fawkes had brought along."
"Godric Gryffindor's sword," Albus murmured. "Only a true Gryffindor can pull it out." James looked proudly at his son.
"Harry killed the snake but was poisoned by a fang that had embedded in his hand," Hermione said. "Fawkes tears, the only antidote against Basilisk poison saved him. Harry used the same fang to pierce the book which wiped out Riddle, or rather his memory. Ginny was safe."
"That's all, I think," Harry said. "We came back, explained things to Headmaster and were awarded 200 points apiece."
"But Dobby?" Remus questioned
"Oh sorry," Harry apologized. "Dobby was Lucius's Elf and he had overheard his master plotting all this as well as the Diary was thrust into Ginny's Cauldron by Malfoy Sr. that day at Diagon Alley. He wanted to put mud over Mr. Weasely's name. I managed to free Dobby by a little trick." Harry grinned as he recounted the story to them.
"That was our second year," Hermione said. "Hagrid got back his freedom and his name was cleared. It wasn't really much." She finished with a grin.
"Cool," Sirius said. "Terrifyingly dangerous, but cool."
Lily let out a breath she was holding. "You guys are too much. I really don't know how much more I can take. But I guess, we need to go to the next chapter."
"Can I read?" Harry asked and was handed the book over by a still pale looking Arthur. He couldn't believe how close he had come to losing his only daughter. He threw a look of obvious thankfulness at Harry, who relaxed back to read.