Chapter Three: Party Like It's 1997

It was an unfortunate fact of Harry Potter's life that being famous had not made him popular. Having spent ten years in Little Whinging being deprived of friendship by the Dursleys, Harry arrived at Hogwarts sorely lacking in social skills and amid his packed schedule of constant attempts on his life never really found the time to develop them. Beyond finding him an intriguing subject of gossip, the other students mostly wanted nothing to do with him, which was understandable due to the aforementioned life-threatening danger he was always in- even his fellow Gryffindors often seemed wary of him, though again he could see their reasoning given his habit of constantly losing them house points. For the most part, he didn't mind this- he put his trust only in a small number of people and was pretty happy with them, even if Ron and Hermione's continual refusal to admit their feelings was seriously testing his patience. Every so often though, he did envy those students who seemed to be able to make friends with everyone, who never had any dark rumours hanging over their heads, whose biggest worries were Quidditch and Hogsmeade dates and sneaking Firewhisky past Filch rather than the fate of the entire Wizarding World.

All of which is to say that he didn't get invited to parties much. So when he did, it came as a pretty big surprise.

Amid the myriad stresses of his sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry had found he was enjoying Herbology more than he'd expected. There were many potential reasons for this- none of the Slytherins did it so he never had to share a class with them, it was nice to be outside for a while and Professor Sprout was quite supportive- but the primary one was because it took itself a lot less seriously than most of his other classes did. He did not have to endure endless pontifications about the 'noble', 'ancient' or 'mystifying' art of Herbology as he had to in DADA or Potions: the work they were doing here was nasty, taxing and frequently absurd, and they were allowed to treat it as such, not to mention that it was the only class where swearing was not only permitted but positively encouraged.

'SHIT!'

Harry barely had time to duck before the thorny vine whipped past him and smashed the glass wall of the greenhouse entirely. Today's specimen was the Tentacled Tangleweed, a plant that resembled a chaotic thicket of thorny wet vines, whose insides contained seeds that were a crucial ingredient in Skele-Gro but were unfortunately located at the centre of all the nastiness. One unfortunate Hufflepuff girl had already been taken to the Hospital Wing after a tentacle had whacked her firmly in the chest, so the remaining students, consisting of Harry, Ron, two other Gryffindors, two Hufflepuffs and three Ravenclaws, were being extra wary of the vicious, writhing plants. Harry looked up, and saw his partner valiantly charging in and grabbing the writhing tentacle, thankful for the metal-plated gloves they were wearing, and try to wrestle it away from Harry.

Harry's partner that day was Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff boy whom Harry had made friends with last year during his time with the DA. He had been on the pudgy side when Harry first met him, but years of training as a Beater for Hufflepuff's Quidditch team had given him a rugby players' build- short, stocky and muscular, with a shock of messy blonde hair and a refined upper-class accent that emphasised his wealthy pure-blood heritage. Harry hadn't much liked him at first, especially when he had been one of the many students accusing Harry of being the Heir of Slytherin during his second year, but since then he'd become a good friend, loyal, resourceful and funny in a rather blunt way. Certainly, Harry was rather grateful for their friendship now, as Macmillan pulled the tentacle away from him and exerted a considerable amount of effort to pin it down to the table.

'Are you going to sit around on your arse all day or help me out here?' Ernie barked, and Harry was suddenly snapped out of his contemplations. A second tentacle had whipped around at him, and he was now straining to hold the two apart, exposing the seeds at the centre of the thicket. 'Get up and grab those seeds and then we can be done with this bloody thing!'

Harry did as he was told, springing to his feet. He ducked under Macmillan's left arm and, bracing himself against the table, reached out towards the centre to grab the seeds. Unfortunately, at this exact moment, a third tentacle whipped around towards him. Harry's well-trained Seeker reflexes sprung to attention and he grabbed it before it could hit him, but it still knocked him back into Macmillan's right arm, causing him to let out a pained grunt and forcing him to use every ounce of his strength to avoid ending up in the Hospital wing yet again.

'Just get the seeds, Potter!' Macmillan yelled.

'I'm trying!' Harry retorted. Bracing himself once again against the table, he tightened his grip on the thrashing tentacle and reached out into the centre of the writhing plant mass, stretching out his fingertips until at last he felt the soft shell of the seeds as he clasped them in his fingers. 'I've got them!' he yelled, and pulled hard, extracting the seeds but also crashing into Ernie and knocking them down onto the greenhouse floor, where their heads painfully collided with the pavement.

Harry spent a few seconds dazed and clutching his forehead in pain before just about managing to sit up. The Tangleweed seemed to have given up the fight- it had stopped writhing and now sat still- and Harry looked down at the yellow seeds in his hands, sincerely hoping that they would be worth the considerable effort expended to acquire them. A pained moan came from his left and he turned around to see his partner, who was clutching his side in pain.

'You know, maybe next time,' Ernie grunted, 'do that a bit faster.'

'Noted,' he responded gruffly. 'Good work, mate.'

'You're welcome. Let's get out of here.'

The pair headed up to Professor Sprout's table at the front of the greenhouse and deposited the seeds into the box on her desk. She let out a delighted gasp.

'Oh, well done boys!' she exclaimed. 'Very well done, you've done it in about half the time it usually takes my students. I dare say Madam Pomfrey will be very grateful for these.'

'Thank you, Professor,' Harry said. 'So, what should we get on with now?'

'Oh, I don't think there's any need to keep you here, not on a lovely day like this. You can go early,' she said with a wink, 'I won't tell Dumbledore, don't worry.'

Harry and Ernie grinned widely. 'Marvellous, Professor, thank you so much,' Ernie responded, before tugging at Harry's arm. 'Come on, let's scarper before the others find out we're gone!'

'Thank you, Professor Sprout!' Harry called as the pair left the greenhouse.

Outside, the weather was glorious- it was the last day of May, and the vagaries and shifting weather of spring had just given way to a resplendent summer sun. Birds chirped in the trees and the majestic landscapes of the Scottish Highlands rolled out in front of them, the Black Lake shimmering with light behind the hills. Even when Harry and Ernie went inside and headed to the Great Hall for lunch the sun was still shining through the windows and bathing everything in a golden glow, which went some way to improving Harry's mood. Harry made for the Gryffindor table, which was mostly empty, but felt a tugging on his cloak, and turned to see Ernie gesturing towards the Hufflepuff table, where a group of sixth years including Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were sat waving at him.

'Come sit with us, it'll be great,' he offered, and Harry obliged, heading over to join them. He grinned at the assembled Hufflepuffs as he sat down.

'Hey Harry!' they all said at once.

'Hey guys,' he offered, 'how you been?'

'Bloody awful,' Justin replied, 'I had Care of Magical Creatures yesterday and an Occamy full-on whacked me in the chest!'

'Oh, I bet you're glad Harry's here so you've got someone else to tell that story to,' Susan said sarcastically. 'He's already bored our entire house to death with it.'

'It bloody well hurt!' Justin shot back. 'I swear Hagrid's been worse than usual this year, it's like he's trying to get someone killed.'

'Oh, knock it off, you big crybaby,' Susan responded. 'You know he tried to get out of going to class today because of this?'

'I was trying to help you guys! Figured if I had some time off I could sneak out to Hogsmeade and get some more stuff for tonight.'

'Wait, what's happening tonight?' Harry asked. The Hufflepuffs fell silent, looking between each other nervously. Justin leaned in to whisper in Ernie's ear. 'Can we tell him?' he asked.

'Course we can,' Ernie replied loudly, 'don't be daft, he's saved all our lives like five times. Besides, Katie would love it, wouldn't she?'

'Wait, what are you talking about?' Harry asked, even more confused.

'We're having a party tonight,' Hannah Abbot interjected. 'You know Briony Taggart, she's year above, prefect, Keeper for Hufflepuff, yeah?'

'Yeah?'

'Well, she just got accepted into the Tutshill Tornadoes' training program, starting this September after she leaves school.'

'Shit, that's amazing!'

'Yeah, we're having a party to celebrate, bunch of people coming, should be great. Normally it'd just be Hufflepuffs but she's going out with Katie Bell, who's obviously in Gryffindor, so the rules are a bit elastic. You wanna come?'

'You can bring your girlfriend too if you want,' Justin offered.

'You're just saying that so you've got an excuse to ogle her all night,' Susan said accusingly. 'You think Harry wants to see that?'

'Sorry, what?' Harry asked.

'Justin here fancies your girlfriend,' Ernie chimed in, 'but trust me, I've seen him try and pull, you've got nothing to worry about.'

'Speak of the devil,' Susan said, and nudged Justin before pointing over to the double doors. Everyone looked up, and Harry turned around to see Ginny Weasley entering the hall engrossed in conversation with two girls he didn't recognise. She looked to be having a bit of a rough day- her hair was tangled and knotty, her shirt was ruffled and her face was red and puffy, but Harry still thought she looked gorgeous. As she turned around and the pair locked eyes both of their faces split into wide grins as she fobbed off the pair of girls and wandered over to join him.

'Hey Harry!' she called as she sat down next to him and planted a kiss on his cheek that caused Ernie to let out a wolf whistle.

'Hey Gin,' he responded. 'Rough day?'

'God, you have no idea,' she replied. 'Potions was murder, almost burnt my bloody face off.' She suddenly became aware of the crowd around them. 'Oh hey guys, how are you?'

'We're great, thanks,' Hannah replied. 'We were just talking about how Justin fancies you, isn't that right Justin?'

'Shut up,' Justin responded weakly as the others laughed. 'That's not what we were talking about, anyway.'

'Yeah, we were just asking Harry if he wants to come to a party we're having tonight,' Susan said, 'one of our Prefects got accepted into the Tornadoes so we're celebrating, you wanna come?'

'Definitely,' Ginny responded, 'I've had a rough week, I could do with letting off some steam. Harry?'

'Uh, yeah sure, I'll come,' he said, still looking at Ginny rather than any of the Hufflepuffs. 'Don't you have work though?'

'Come on Potter, where's your sense of adventure?' she asked. 'Besides'- she leaned in to whisper into his ear- 'I thought you liked sneaking around with me at night.' Harry flushed a deep red, and more wolf whistles were heard in the background.

'I'll take that as a yes then?' asked Ernie, sporting an enormous shit-eating grin. Harry nodded. 'Brilliant. See you guys later- and wear something nice!'

Harry was starting to get nervous. He had been sitting in the common room by himself pretending to be studying Advanced Potion Making for 40 minutes now, 30 minutes later than he should have been- he and Ginny had agreed to meet there at 11 (by which point most people should be in their dorms) and sneak out to Hufflepuff Basement under cover of his Invisibility Cloak, which he had stuffed into his school bag in a pretty lame attempt at remaining above suspicion. With every minute that ticked by, the risk of running into Hermione (or Ron, which by this point was essentially the same thing) increased, and he did not want to hear what she'd have to say about him and Ginny sneaking out late at night to attend a party a few days before the start of Ginny's exams. It would make Snape's detentions look positively humane.

Harry glanced up at the clock again. Another minute had just ticked by, and part of him was starting to seriously consider throwing in the towel and heading up to bed himself. It was getting a bit late after all, and he'd had a rather tiring day, and the fire was just so warm and his eyelids were starting to feel rather heavy-

'Harry?' His eyes snapped open again at the whisper coming from the top of the stairs to the girls' dormitories. He looked up, seeing a pair of white trainers which he vaguely recognised from his last summer at the Burrow peeking out around the corner, and breathed a small sigh of relief. 'Is it okay for me to come down?'

'Coast is clear, Gin,' Harry whispered. The trainers started to move, followed by the rest of her, and any worries Harry was having about falling asleep instantly dissipated as Ginny tiptoed down the stairs in a rather striking outfit- white trainers, red jeans and a white crop top that showed off her toned midriff in a way that would have horrified Molly Weasley. She had straightened her hair out a bit, though it still retained its usual waviness that made Harry desperate to run his fingers through it, but most striking of all were her lips, which were coloured a deep, almost sinful shade of red that called out to him like a siren's song. It seemed almost ridiculous that he was the one she was coming to meet, given all he'd done to prepare was dig out the dress shirt he'd worn to Slughorn's Christmas party and borrow some cologne from Neville- he felt suddenly acutely aware of his untameable mop of hair, his skinny arms, his pathetic attempts at facial hair and his general lack of coolness.

'Hey handsome,' she said, winking at him and throwing her arms around his neck, and Harry briefly lost the capacity to speak as her chocolate eyes met his and she fixed him with an almost predatory look. 'Why don't we go show those Hufflepuffs how to party?' Harry didn't manage to get any words out before she leaned in and kissed his cheek, causing Harry to let out a deeply undignified sound.

'Like what you see?' she asked. 'I borrowed most of this from Emma, she's Muggleborn, one of my dorm mates. Glad to see it was worth the effort. You don't look so bad either.'

'Hair's still a mess,' he answered weakly.

'I like it messy,' she whispered into his ear, running her hands through his hair.

'We should really get going,' Harry said, suddenly remembering the time crunch they were under. He reached down and grabbed the invisibility cloak. 'You ready?'

'Lead the way,' she said, and Harry crouched down as he spun the cloak over their heads.

The pair walked out of the portrait hole, looking around to make sure no one was near them or following them. The Fat Lady seemed rather mystified when the portrait hole opened but seemingly no one actually exited, but she was clearly drunk so didn't raise too many objections. Every so often they'd duck back into an alcove to avoid a wandering student, and on one bizarre instance a clearly drunk Professor Trelawney babbling about centaurs, until eventually they made their way to the ground floor and entered the kitchen corridor, which was warm and light, and looked around until they spotted a stack of barrels towards the end of the right hand side.

'Is this it?' Ginny asked. 'I thought it'd be….'

'Not a bunch of barrels?' Harry asked. 'Yeah, me too. Hold on a second.' He gently put his ear to the barrels, being careful not to make a sound, and heard the distinct sound of music and laughter coming form the other side. 'This is it,' he said, and then pulled the cloak off them, leaving them unfortunately exposed to any passing teachers or house elves. He tried to remember which of the barrels to knock- Ernie had said something about the middle, and then the bottom row…

'Two from the bottom, middle of the second row,' he muttered to himself, and, with relief, found the barrel he was looking for. He rapped his knuckles against it five times, counting out the rhythm of 'Hel-ga Huff-le-puff', and jumped back a bit when a loud creaking sound emanated from behind it. 'Got it!' he exclaimed, and he and Ginny stepped back as the barrels swung open to reveal a large circular door, which swung back shut behind them as the couple stepped into the Hufflepuff common room.

Harry's first thought was that he'd stepped into the Hogwarts wine cellar. The room was a cavernous circle, oak panelled, with several round windows near the roof shining moonlight down onto the floor. Everything was tinted slightly yellow, from the wall tiles to the lavish badger-adorned hangings to the strange plants that seemed to be growing everywhere he cast his eyes. In normal times, he might've mistaken it for an aristocratic state room, adorned with fancy sofas, lavish flower displays and ornate curtains, the sort of place where women in gowns and men in doublets would dance in circles and profess their true love to each other. At present, however, it was far from fancy: party banners and confetti were covering nearly every surface, music that clearly hadn't been made by wizards was blaring out of a large radio on a table in the middle of the room, empty bottles of Butterbeer and Firewhisky were scattered around the floor and several couples were snogging quite aggressively on the sofas. The party had clearly started without them. At the centre of the room stood Ernie, wearing a yellow blazer adorned with patterns and sitting next to a short brunette girl who he was clearly ignoring as he darted his eyes about the room. When they rested on Harry, he grinned and cried out, 'Hey everyone, Harry's here!'

Suddenly, all eyes were on him, and the partygoers let out a cheer. Ernie stood up, clearly glad to have an excuse to abandon his companion, and sauntered over to meet Harry, pulling him into a bear hug. 'Good to see you mate,' he said, before turning his attention to Ginny. 'Well, hello, Miss Weasley,' he said in a tone that Harry was definitely not okay with, raking his eyes up and down her body before taking her hand and placing a gentle kiss to it. Ginny seemed both shocked and amused, whilst Harry felt his face twist into a grimace.

'Watch it, Ernie,' he intoned.

'Don't worry, Potter, I wouldn't dream of it,' he replied, laughing. 'But my mother would disown me if I didn't greet a lady with proper respect. I'm a pureblood, we have traditions.'

'Don't suppose you've got any Butterbeer left?' Harry asked, eager to change the subject.

'Of course we do!' Ernie answered. 'Do you really think I was gonna let you do this sober? Come on over here.' He started walking back to the table and gestured for Harry and Ginny to join him, handing them each a bottle as they sat down on the couch. The radio on the table was blaring out a song that Harry vaguely recognised from a car ride he'd taken with the Dursleys the previous summer, something about groove being in the heart, but as soon as he sat down he was confronted with something else he recognised from last summer, and the pair's faces both twisted into a grimace as they locked eyes with Zacharias Smith. Harry's last meeting with Smith had been over a year ago during the very last DA meeting- perhaps the only part of the DA he did not miss was the boy's constant negativity and pestering of him, and given that he'd heard Ginny boasting of hitting him with a particularly nasty Bat-Bogey Hex he assumed her opinion of him was just as negative. For his part, Smith seemed pretty unhappy with him being there too, scowling as he sipped his drink.

'What on earth are you two doing here?' he asked, yelling to make himself heard over the music. 'You're not in Hufflepuff.'

'Ernie invited us,' Ginny retorted, 'and besides, I'd watch my mouth if I were you. You didn't look so good last time we met.' Ginny made a show of reaching for her wand, and Smith paled, mumbling something about getting another drink before darting off into the corner.

Harry broke out into laughter just as Ernie came back over to meet them, followed by Hannah, Susan, Justin, Katie Bell and a tall girl Harry assumed must be Briony. 'The hell did you do to him?' he asked.

'Nothing this time,' Ginny responded innocently. 'Anyway, let's have some fun. Hey everyone!' She waved to the others as they took their seats on the couches around the table. Katie saw Ginny and let out a yelp of excitement, running over and hugging her.

'Oh my god, you came!' she squealed. 'It's so good to see you! And you too Harry!' She let go of Ginny before pulling Harry up and wrapping him in a fierce hug- as she pulled back, Harry saw her looking slightly dazed, and guessed she'd started hitting the Firewhisky fairly early. 'You guys look amazing! Oh my god, I just realised you guys haven't met Briony! Briony, come over here! This is Harry, you know him, and this is Ginny, she's like the best player on our team, she's definitely gonna be a professional, just like you!'

'Hi,' said a slightly overwhelmed Ginny, 'nice to meet you. You were really great in that match we played back in February.'

'I think Cormac McLaggen can probably take more credit for that than I can,' Taggart said, getting a laugh out of both Harry and Ginny. 'But seriously, you two are brilliant, I can see why Katie goes on about you so much. So what's this I hear about you going pro?'

Ginny began to excitedly explain her dream of playing for the Holyhead Harpies whilst Harry and Katie debated the Gryffindor Quidditch team's performance. Harry felt his anxiety about the evening slip away as they recounted the highs and lows of the year, occasionally glancing over and Ginny and feeling his heart soar as she animatedly discussed the merits of this or that player or a particularly difficult manoeuvre, and slowly but surely he made his way through his drink, and another one, until Ernie decided to interrupt their discussions.

'Who wants to play a drinking game?' he yelled out to a round of cheers from the assembled partygoers. 'Harry, you in?'

'Sure thing,' he said. 'What are we playing?'

'How about a Muggle one?' Justin suggested. 'I played this one over the summer where one person says 'never have I ever' about something and everyone who's done it has to drink. Something like'- he thought for a second- 'never have I ever got detention.'

'That's a terrible one,' Briony called out.

'It's just an example,' Justin said defensively. 'You think of one then.'

'Alright,' she said. 'Never have I ever… ended up in the hospital wing.' Katie, Harry, Justin and Harry all groaned in protest as they drank.

'Think Harry should drink double for that one,' Ernie called out, 'he's spent more time with Pomfrey than he has with his own parents!'

There was an abrupt silence. Ernie was confused, then suddenly looked horrified as he realised his mistake. 'Oh shit, Harry, I-'

Harry burst out laughing. 'It's okay mate, honestly,' he said, 'don't worry about it. I'm fine talking about it, really, I'd hate for you guys to go easy on me.'

'Is that a challenge?' Justin called out jeeringly.

'Is that supposed to scare me?' Harry responded. 'I've fought Voldemort five times, in case you've forgotten.'

'As if we even could,' the other boy responded, 'your ugly mug's in the Prophet more often than the bloody Minister. Oh, that gives me an idea, actually- never have I ever been in trouble with the law!' Harry drank, casting his mind back to his first meeting with Umbridge at the Wizengamot, and was surprised to see Briony and Ginny drinking also.

He looked over at Briony, who simply glared at him and mouthed 'not here' in response to his unsaid question, and then gave his girlfriend a quizzical look. 'Remember, the Ministry?' she said. 'We broke in and smashed all those Time Turners?'

'Oh yeah, of course,' Harry replied, prompting Ginny to roll her eyes.

'Honestly, Harry, you keep getting me into trouble and then you just forget about it afterwards,' she said teasingly. 'What would my mother say?'

'Well, I think Molly Weasley would certainly have a lot to say about all the trouble you get me into,' he replied, matching her playful tone. 'I'm not sure she'd approve of that outfit, either.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, do you not like the top then? I can go put my dress robes back on if you like.' They were getting closer and closer now, the first licks of alcohol emboldening them until they were inches away from each other and wearing identical grins. 'After all, I'm sure the Chosen One, our hero, would never dream of looking at an innocent girl that way.'

'You're hardly innocent,' Harry retorted. She was so close now-

'Ahem,' came a voice from the crowd in such a pitch-perfect imitation of Professor Umbridge that Harry and Ginny nearly jumped out of their skins. They instead saw Hannah Abbott with her arms folded and a grin on her face. 'I'm sorry, is our party interrupting your snogging time?'

'Er, no, sorry,' Harry said, sheepishly moving back to the end of the sofa. 'Think it's my turn now then?' He pondered for a moment, before settling on one he knew Ginny wouldn't like. 'Never have I ever been caught snogging!' Justin and Hannah groaned and drank, whilst Ginny looked indignant as she took a sip.

'Surely you should drink for that,' Ernie said, 'you two did it in front of the whole of Gryffindor!'

'Yeah, but I knew everyone was there, so I didn't technically get caught.' 1

'Then why is Ginny drinking?' Ernie asked. The redheaded girl blushed profusely, looking deeply embarrassed, and Ernie suddenly looked shocked. 'Wait, was this when-'

'Harryandroncaughtmesnoggingdean,' Ginny stammered quietly.

'What?'

'Harry and Ron caught me snogging Dean! There, now stop talking about it!' Ginny snapped. Her attempt at intimidation only provoked a wave of laughter from the partygoers, and she looked even more irritated.

Then, a mischevious glint entered her eyes. 'My turn. Never have I ever had a girl cry on me whilst kissing her!'

'Well that's just rude,' Harry said as he drank.

'Oh-ho, what's the story here?' Ernie asked.

'You really need to mind your own business,' Harry said.

'We've already embarrassed Ginny enough, surely it's your turn now.'

'Alright fine, when I had my first kiss with Cho she was still super upset about Cedric and she was crying and some of it kind of… got on me in the process.'

'That's gross.'

'Yeah, it wasn't great.'

'Is that why you guys didn't work out?'

'No, we didn't work out because she thought I fancied Hermione.'

'That's ridiculous.'

'I know! Besides, even if I did I would never do that to Ron.'

'So the rumours are true then? He does fancy her?'

'It's not a rumour if it's true,' Ginny interjected. 'But don't tell him, I wanna see the look on his face when he figures it out. He's literally the only person who hasn't yet.'

'I don't think either of you are really in a position to judge honestly,' Katie interjected, startling the others. 'You didn't see what you were like in our Quidditch practices this year.'

'What are you talking about?' Harry asked.

Katie let out a harsh, hyena-like laugh. 'Oh please,' she drawled, 'why do you think Harry kept getting hit by all those Bludgers? It's because he couldn't let 10 seconds go by without staring at your arse-' a collective gasp was heard- 'and you weren't any better, always staring at him misty-eyed whenever he was giving us directions. I'm surprised Dean didn't chuck you way earlier than he did, if I saw my girlfriend acting like that around another bloke I wouldn't bloody well be happy with it!'

The Hufflepuffs had dissolved into uproarious laughter at the expense of Harry and Ginny, who were both now blushing profusely and awkwardly looking back and forth at each other. Beneath the embarrassment though, Harry sensed a shy sort of affection, as at the very least he now knew for certain that his year-long pining for her had not been one-sided, which made him very happy indeed.

'Hey, why did you and Dean break up then?' Briony asked.

Ginny seemed startled but decided to answer anyway. 'Oh, it was some stupid argument about him pushing me when I tried to get through the portrait hole, but we'd been pretty rocky ever since-' She suddenly stopped.

'Since what?' Harry asked innocently.

'Since McLaggen hit you with that Bludger and you ended up in the hospital wing,' she admitted, by now nearly fluorescently red. 'Dean and Seamus were joking about it and I had a massive go at him and he said that I fancied you, and that I wouldn't care if he got injured and yeah, all pretty messy. Honestly, I'm glad he pushed me, I was looking for an excuse to end it anyway.' She smiled sweetly at him, and Harry couldn't help but feel rather guilty, given the unacknowledged part he had played in their breakup. He looked away, and his reaction didn't go unnoticed. 'Harry, is something wrong?'

'He's probably just shy,' Katie offered, 'he's terrible with girls, you know, never had a proper girlfriend until you, probably doesn't like remembering you've been with all these other blokes.'

'For the last time,' Ginny said with a hint of exhaustion, 'I am not some sort of slag!'

'Never said you were,' Katie responded, 'just that you've got more dating experience than Harry does, though then again so do most of the first years.'

'Yeah, Harry, what's with that?' Ernie jumped in with. 'You're famous, rich, mega-talented Quidditch player, not bad-looking and you're practically a bloody superhero, how'd it take you this long to get a girlfriend?'

'Well, I've been kind of busy almost getting murdered every year, so I didn't really have much time for all that,' Harry retorted. 'I'm not too fussed about it though', he said taking Ginny's hand, 'it's worked out pretty well in the end.' Another round of groans from the Hufflepuffs and Katie, but Ginny smiled.

'This is making me gag,' Briony complained. 'I'm starting the next round.'

The game progressed for another few rounds, and Harry once again realised just how tumultuous his Hogwarts career had been when he ended up drinking for almost every round. As time went by, he found his focus slipping, having to strain to focus on whatever Ernie or Justin or Hannah were saying and not get lost staring at the disco lights, or just close his eyes and let the music take hold of him. He was clearly not the only one falling under the influence, as more and more people were filling up an impromptu dancefloor at the front of the common room.

Briony and Katie were the first of their group to break, the Gryffindor girl pulling the Hufflepuff out of her seat and dragging her over towards the dancefloor over cries of protest from Ernie. Soon however, Ernie was distracted by the re-appearance of the girl he'd been talking to earlier, allowing her to lead him onto the dancefloor and leaving Harry and Ginny alone on the sofa, which they quickly took advantage of and started aggressively making out. The alcohol had loosened their already low inhibitions, and Harry felt a surge of heat through his body as he stroked Ginny's bare midriff and felt her tense up at his touch, her lips parting with a gasp.

'Harry,' she murmured against his mouth. He answered her by deepening the kiss, pulling her body even closer to his own, revelling in the feel of her soft skin and silky hair- he had not liked being reminded of how recently Ginny had been doing this with another boy, and was now determined to make her forget Dean Thomas entirely.

'Harry,' she said again, laughing as she parted from his kiss, now positioned just over him with her hair falling in his face. 'Let's go dancing,' she said, eyes bright as she nodded towards the crowd.

'Do we have to?' Harry murmured. 'I'm having fun right where I am.' He reached up to kiss her again, but Ginny pulled away, laughing as she grabbed his hand and got off the sofa.

'Come on, you silly boy!' she cried. 'I'm not snogging you until you dance with me!' Sufficiently cowed by this threat, Harry got up to join her, staggering slightly as he followed her onto the dancefloor to the sounds of a man with a high-pitched voice insisting he could 'move, move, move any mountain'. Ginny let go of his hand and spun around, moving her body wildly like a woman possessed, throwing her arms around and letting her hair fly around her face. She was, he could tell, pretty awful at dancing, but seeing as his only experience was nearly breaking Parvati Patil's toes he chose to stay silent. He threw himself into it, matching Ginny's energy and throwing out all sorts of weird movements that could only very loosely be described as 'dancing' and would have been mortifyingly embarrassing were he sober, but the combination of the alcohol and the buzz of Ginny's wild energy had lit a fire within him that seemed to burn away all his usual insecurities like a raging forest fire.

This was what teenagers did, wasn't it? Normal ones, who didn't have to worry about prophecies and monsters and insane evil wizards- they got drunk, they danced, they played stupid games with their friends and snogged pretty girls at parties. Even when he wasn't in constant danger, there were so few times in his life when he'd genuinely been able to cut loose and just have fun that the whole thing felt almost surreal to him, and he kept half expecting to jolt back awake in his dorm and find that he'd imagined it entirely. But the jolt of electricity he felt surge through him at Ginny's soft touches brought him back down to earth in the most exhilarating way, reminding him that, however impossible it seemed, this was real, she was real and gorgeous and light and his, and he would never stop being overawed by that, by this, by her. Feeling emboldened by this, Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and spun her around the way he'd seen Cedric do with Cho at the Yule Ball, catching her in his arms and dipping her body down so their sparkling eyes met.

'Oh, Harry,' she laughed, 'I didn't know you could dance.'

'I can't,' he replied, 'I'm just guessing really.'

'Keep guessing,' she replied, and Harry took this as his cue to lift her back up and spin her around again so she was facing him with their hands intertwined, and started to shimmy back and forth with her, knocking past several Hufflepuffs in the process. Ginny matched his movements, and they were met with cheers from the partygoers as they threw themselves into the dance with the sort of confidence only drunk teenagers can truly muster. Speaking of-

'Let's get another drink!' Ginny cried, grabbing Harry by the hand again and pulling him over to the table. She grabbed a half empty bottle of Firewhisky and two stray shot glasses, cleaning them out with the fabric of her trousers before pouring them drinks.

'What are we drinking to?' Harry asked as he raised his glass.

'How about we drink to those sexy trousers you're wearing?' Ginny purred, leaning close towards him. 'You know, ever since Katie said all that stuff about you in our Quidditch practices'- she leaned in closer to him- 'I haven't stopped thinking about it. Or you'

'Gin,' he breathed, feeling rather warm all of a sudden, 'what's gotten into you?'

'Probably the booze, but you know it doesn't take Firewhisky to make me feel all these things about you. I've wanted you since I was ten, don't you remember?' She raised her glass with a smirk. 'Here's to dreams coming true.' Having had it before, Harry was prepared for the burning sensation as he drank, but it fully snapped Ginny out of her drunken bravado, causing her to break into a coughing fit and stagger backwards.

'Shit, Gin, are you okay?' he asked.

'I'm fine, Harry, really,' she said, 'just a bit of a burn, that's all.' She looked up at him and gave him that slightly dazed smile again as she reached out to gently touch his face. 'My hero. Always coming to my rescue.'

'Well, I am the Chosen One after all,' he replied with a smirk, 'just doing my job, really.'

'You're my Chosen One,' she whispered as she moved in for another kiss. Harry could dimly hear the music change, but he wouldn't have cared even if Umbridge had returned to the castle to break up the party personally- nothing was going to end his good mood now.

On the other side of the room, Ernie, Briony and Katie sat sprawled on a sofa, the two girls wrapped in each others arms and Ernie nursing a drink on his lonesome and all watching Harry and Ginny's passionate embrace.

'God, they really can't keep their hands off each other, can they?' Briony observed.

'I think it's sweet,' Katie answered. 'Remember what we were like when we first got together? All those times we almost got caught by Hooch in the training rooms?' She moved up to get closer to the other girl. 'I didn't see you telling me to keep my hands to myself back then.' She moved closer and captured Briony's lips.

'Honestly, am I the only one here not getting snogged?' Ernie complained loudly. The girls broke apart, laughing.

'Can't win them all, Ernie,' Briony offered. 'What happened to that girl you were talking to earlier? She was cute.'

'Oh, she was,' Ernie answered, 'but then she started saying a bunch of really nasty shit about Muggleborns and I just couldn't really go through with it. I mean, I'm posh, but I'm not racist, you know? I have standards.'

'Good on you,' Katie opined. 'You tell her what for. By the way, thanks for letting me come, anyway, this has been really lovely.'

'You didn't think I'd celebrate without you, did you?' Briony asked rhetorically, planting a kiss on the other girl's cheek. 'I am expecting you to come to all my games next year, you know.'

'And I am also very proud of you,' Ernie said a bit too loudly.

'Feeling left out?' Briony said laughing. 'I would kiss you too, but I think this one might have something to say about it.'

'I'm not a homewrecker, don't worry, unlike our hero over there,' Ernie responded gesturing to Harry, who was grabbing a giggling Ginny and dragging her out onto the dancefloor as they kissed again. 'Good god, they're still going. Don't they need to breathe?'

'I mean, I'm sure they took a break at some point, we just didn't see it,' Katie theorised. 'Right, I think I really ought to get back to Gryffindor, I've got Snape in the morning.'

'Will you at least let me walk you back?' Briony asked.

'Of course, dear,' Katie responded, letting the other girl take her hand and pull her up off the sofa. 'Good luck with finding another girl, Ernie!'

'Thanks, I'll need it,' he responded, getting up to go grab another drink.

'And keep an eye on the lovebirds, they have to go back at some point too.'

'I don't know if I can do that to be honest, we haven't covered Permanent Sticking Charms yet.' Ernie saluted the two girls as they walked off. 'Stay safe.'

'You too!' Katie and Briony took off, weaving their way through the crowd before coming to the exit. Just before stepping out, however, Katie turned around to get one last glimpse of the crowd, and spotted Harry and Ginny holding each other tightly and swaying gently to the music, which had switched into something softer. She was unable to stop herself from letting out a gentle 'Aww,' which Briony picked up on.

'They're cute, aren't they? Sickening… but cute.'

'Yeah, they are,' she said, stepping out into the corridor.

Back on the dancefloor, Harry vaguely noticed the two girls stepping out, but couldn't bring himself to separate from Ginny long enough to say goodbye. The pair were wrapped in a tight embrace, Ginny's head buried into his shoulder, her small body fitting neatly against his, her warmth spreading through him.

'You know,' Ginny said softly, 'I used to be kind of afraid of you.'

'Really?' Harry asked incredulously. 'Why?'

'I thought you were really cool and dangerous and mysterious and sexy,' she answered, 'whereas I was just this scared little girl. I had such a thing for you, but I never thought anything would actually happen.'

'I'm the same,' he replied. 'This whole year, I thought that you'd never want anything to do with me, you were so much cooler and hotter and just better than me in every way, you know? Even if Ron hadn't kept getting in the way it would've taken me ages to work up the nerve to do anything.'

'Well, I for one,' Ginny said, looking back up to meet his gaze, 'am very glad you did.'

'Oh yeah? Why's that?'

'Well, I wouldn't have got invited to this party without you.'

'Is that all I am to you then? Just a ticket to the high life?'

'Naturally. And of course we both know you're just using me for my body.'

'Naturally.' Their foreheads touched.

'I really like you Harry.'

'I really like you too.'

'I'm going to kiss you now.'

'I'm all yours.'

And he was.